One of the great things we love about Threadless is that the designs are submitted by designers like you and get voted on by their community. The winning designs are then printed on clothing and other products and sold through their website (designers get paid for their designs!).

Today, in partnership with our site Mighty Deals, we bring you an awesome giveaway where you can win 5 gift vouchers for Threadless merchandise, worth $100 each!!

You can use them in anyway you wish on Threadless.com - whether you want to get yourself some cool t-shirts, books, iPhone cases, etc.

Read on for more details:

Check out just some of the many awesome designs and let the drooling start…

Terms of contest and how to participate:

• Enter your email address in the form below and then leave a comment.
• Results will be announced here on WDD on February 15th, 2012
• Coupons must be redeemed within 1 year

Good luck to everyone!!!

This contest is sponsored by Webdesigner Depot and our own MightyDeals.com which we believe is the best place to find awesome deals for designers. Note that Threadless is in no way affiliated with our sites or sponsoring this contest in any way.

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Is innovation just a synonym for “invention”, or is it really just a positive spin on “imitation”? I guarantee if you ask five different people, you’ll probably get five different answers. Not because everyone is wrong, but because the exact definitions for ‘innovation’ and ‘innovator’ seem to vary by situation. Once you feel like you’ve answered the question, the next step is to figure out how you can be innovative so that it might help you go further in your situation.

Below, we will go through some definitions and examples to eventually get you to a better basic understanding of innovation, and how it can help you as a designer.

And the answer is…

The word “innovation” kind of varies and is almost completely subjective; it has to deal a lot with the situation and it’s surroundings. Some will tell you that it’s the act of coming up with a new idea while others will tell you it’s just taking any idea and making it your own. I think it’s safe to agree with both points to a certain extent.

The dictionary lists it as something new or different introduced. That’s a concise textbook definition but innovation is not just about an idea or just about creating something new. If that was the case we’d be talking invention, right? And if we were talking just about ideas, we’d be just dealing with cultivating creativity, right? Innovation is much deeper than that, and lies in creating new processes.

Coming with a new and creative idea is just one point of being innovative because the next step is making something tangible from that idea. When you make that tangible thing, are you just hoping people like what you came up with or are you really thinking about it? Innovation begins with research so that you can, in turn, come up with a great process.

Think about this: some of the most innovative things are not new ideas, they’re just better processes. You create a better process by looking at what’s out there, figuring out what’s right and what’s wrong with it, and coming up with something new. The “idea” portion isn’t the most important thing; it’s about how you portray it. For example, if you are a web designer with your own business, your innovation doesn’t necessarily come from an “invention”, but it may come from the way in which you carry out your process: for example, finding a great way to figure out what your client wants or creating an easy way to communicate with clients can be your claim to innovation. You may also show it through your super intuitive designs.

The most important part, however, is doing something different. It’s a competitive world out here, and when a company sees another company come out with something new, oftentimes they try to mimic it and mark it down a couple bucks. I guess I understand the current marketing strategy, but how does doing something like that gain you real loyal customers? Companies in this situation (where they feel behind), have a better chance at re-doing the process and coming out with something new—pay attention to what those customers are saying they hate about said product and fix it. Don’t make the same thing and expect people to come running.

What are the differences?

Once again, trying to really define and teach innovation is really sticky, so perhaps one could understand it when being put against related terms. Innovation can be a completely new idea or a borrowed and improved idea. The thing, however, is not to get caught up in the “idea” of it all, but to focus on the finished product. We all have ideas.

Invention has a very similar definition to our topic. When we think of inventing, we obviously think of making something new. But the process of invention really only deals with creation. In the invention stage, we are working things out, on what’s usually a new idea. In the invention stage, we are trying our hardest to put money into the creation of an idea. We want whatever it is to work and be amazing. Innovation suggests that whatever we have isn’t necessarily a new idea, but it’s our new attempt to basically put it in front of people’s faces. In innovation, we have our finished and tangible reflection of the idea and now we typically want to make money off that, or at least get it seen on a larger scale.

For example, if you’ve studied a bit of science history, you may know we attribute the invention of the telescope to Galileo. The problem with this, is that telescopes were around for a while before Galileo got his hands on it and many people used them. He actually joined that bandwagon fairly late; he was about a year or so behind. Telescopes prior to Galileo’s usage weren’t used as a device to look at moons and stars—it was basically a pretty useless magnifying glass, sometimes purchased for fun. However, Galileo decided there was something important in the sky and he wanted to take a look at it, so he researched the product, made it better by increasing the distance in which you can see things and ended up giving us the precursors of the modern day telescope.

Galileo did not invent the telescope, but he helped to innovate and cultivate the idea. Steve Jobs didn’t create the MP3 player, but he helped to innovate the idea. Being or creating something that is innovative is about making the right connection to your consumer. There are many products that take extremely complex topics and scale them down to put them in front of an individual so that they may use it. There are also products that seem to be useless, that can be innovated into extremely useful products. However, if you have a simple audience and try to sell them an extremely complex product, you’ve completely lost hope. It’s just about making the connection between an idea or invention and an individual who has a problem to solve. Inventions can be innovative, but innovations do not have to be inventions.

Innovation relates not only to creation and making connections, but the organization as well as the design. If you want to create a better process that relates better to your audience, you’ve got to design it and organize it in a way that is easily understandable to your audience. Else, you’re a lost cause once again. Any product usually does not live without invention in some stage, but at some point there has to be a focus on the process and how to make it better for what ever problem needs to be solved. It’s easy to confuse invention and innovation, but the truth is, innovation is much more important.

Moving forward

Any good business, whether large or small, knows that in order to stay ahead of the game, they’ve got to be innovative. It isn’t about being better than anyone else, instead it’s about creating products and services that will have longevity. The great thing about innovative products is that they are typically timeless. Gimmicky products? Not so much.

Why is it so important to cultivate innovativeness? For one, people have short attention spans and get tired of new things fairly quickly. Secondly, innovation is what changes the world—it changes our interests, it changes our government and it changes the way we move in the future. Some products are for a time period, even some categorically innovative ones. But it takes that quality to be continuously visited in order for the product to remain relevant. You don’t just update features, but you update how it works, how it interacts and what it looks like. For example, the Nintendo GameBoy at every stage in its life (from the bulky handheld to the slim two-screen), hasn’t just simply added a feature, it changed the way you played handheld games. Not only did other copycat companies have to keep up, but game developers had to do the same, as did mobile phone makers and full gaming consoles. Nintendo has always been an innovator in the game console arena.

Companies that spring up just to copy off another company won’t make it. Even as designers, if we are trying to design like our favorite and follow the same path, we aren’t going to make it. You have to be different. You have to want to change something. The longevity of a company is in question when their main purpose is to copy every move of another company. Think about two companies that have broken the mold of typical companies; for example Starbucks, Apple, and PayPal just to name a few. Now think of the companies that came to be because they felt like “they could do that too”. The innovators mindset is not “I can do that, too”, but rather “anything you can do, I can do better.”

We must also keep in mind that innovation is not just directly related to products and commercialism. There are ways available to innovate in society through economics, laws and much much more. It is the propeller for all things linked to progressive movement. Innovators have to keep in mind that they have an opportunity to change the lives of 6+ billion people. It isn’t all about products and consumerism, but it is definitely about raising the bar for everyone.

How can you be innovative?

As a freelance designer who has clients, you’re probably not thinking you have to be innovative. That’s just the job of your clients and you follow suit. But as previously stated, any business knows that they must be innovative in order to prosper and be successful. Don’t you want that for yourself?

You already have the upper-hand because if you’re a good and mature designer, you know that graphic design is about visually solving a problem. You have a client that wants to use their website to sell their product; how would you do it? Your client needs a flyer for an event that people have to RSVP for; how do you do it? If you can answer these questions, you are already a problem solver of sorts and have no issues thinking in that mind frame.

The thing about innovation, however, is not just what you’re going to use to carry out your tasks but how you’re going to do it. See, innovation for a designer can present itself in several different ways. Do you find yourself and others in the same situation often, so you want to try to invent an app to take care of something? Do you want to change the way people look and see design, so you create the difference? Or perhaps you just want to change and better the process of graphic design all together, so you want to organize things differently.

Many innovators have mastered the task of paying attention. If there is a problem that needs to be solved, you must pay attention to the solutions already out there and you must also pay attention to the way consumers have reacted to the solution. Figure out what works and what doesn’t work and come up with something new. The trick to creating that new thing, though, is creating it so that it is used intuitively by your audience. If a solution or process is outdated or doesn’t work, flip it around and look at it from all angles. Try to figure out what works.

In order for innovation to take place, of course you need some creativity and you need some entrepreneurship capabilities, and you need an excellent relation between both. But you must know how to make things intuitive. Products and services are used when they make sense for people without the use of training and such. You must know how to find the bigger picture and act on and solve that.

You also want to make your self as susceptible to innovative thoughts as possible. It really begins when you attempt to think outside the box. It sounds cliche and boring, but the truth is a lot of people have issues thinking outside the box. Many of us our cultured into believing certain things and in some systems, that when one thinks against it, you automatically get scared. As a musician, I run into a lot of other musicians who are looking for fame and fortune. If anyone knows anything about the music industry, it isn’t doing so well. These musicians want to catch their big break while they are still running through the dying techniques of the industry, and when they have an out of the box idea, they shy away from it because it’s “too different.”

If you want to be innovative and move forward, you have to abandon the thought that all different ideas are bad ideas. Keeping an open mind and paying attention to your surroundings are some of the best things to do in order to be innovative. Innovators look for unique ways to solve problems. There’s no better way to think uniquely than to be open, daring, and bold; don’t be afraid of your creativity. Taking risks and not being afraid to break down barriers and walls will take someone further than playing it safe. There’s nothing wrong with being different, especially if you can bottle it up in a product that people will love.

Conclusion

The definition and thoughts on innovation will always vary, but there’s never any real question of those who are innovative. Innovation doesn’t have to be this thing you put on a pedestal or fear but it should definitely be something you strive for and try to welcome. It comes in many different scales and in many different situations, you just have to open your eyes to it.

Is there a difference between the person who creates his own new innovative idea or the guy who borrows an idea and makes it better? Not really, as long as both things work and are accepted as such. Is there a difference between the guy who invents something but it’s deemed unusable for the public and the guy who takes that invention and flips it so that it is usable for the public? Absolutely—the latter person is an innovator.

You don’t have to invent the newest, shiniest technology, but you do want to bring something different to the table. If you find a consistent problem in some sort of process, turn it upside down and see if it still works. If it does, use it. If it doesn’t, try some other amazing idea. Innovation doesn’t require you to reinvent the wheel, but it does challenge you to look at that wheel differently.

Kendra Gaines is a freelance designer from Virginia, USA. Connect with her.

Where do you see the most opportunities for innovation in web design and development? Let us know in the comments!

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I had a strategy and I had it all planned out. I really did. It didn’t matter, though.

The work I was doing in an attempt to get noticed (and paid) was getting absolutely no attention. I mean, I purchased a website and got little to no views for weeks. I was trying my hardest, and I think on my best day I got maybe 150 views, and maybe 20 folks on my e-mail list.

My strategy just was not working.

The bright side, however, was that the work I was doing for fun got a lot more recognition than I thought it would and it eventually turned into some decent money. Who would’ve thought?

Why be strategic?

Having something organized and planned out works for some people. It’s what the experts tell us to do. I hate surprises so I liked the idea of having something to look forward to rather than feeling like I was taking a walk in the dark. Besides, it’s a lot easier to tell people you’re working on your web design business than it is to tell them you have no clue what you’re doing, but you hope it works.

Creating a strategy helps you to be prepared. You don’t want to just let yourself loose and hope something happens or catches on. Even when I was doing my primarily creative/fun stuff, I still planned it out. Think about it like this—how often can you open Photoshop (or the program of your choice) with no plan or idea of what to do and then end up creating something spectacular? I know I can’t. Web designers, print designers, architects, painters, and other creatives all have some sort of plan or some sort of sketch before they get into the development stage.

Strategy is what some people believe pays the bills. Now, I’ll say that’s up to personal interpretation, but if you have a plan and it makes sense, well then you’re far ahead of someone who has no clue what they are doing. Some folks come along and decide they want to create a blog packed with design inspiration and other creative articles or they want to create branded packages for small businesses. These are great ideas that have to have a strategy behind them…or do they?

Why be creative?

While I absolutely hate surprises, I had no idea how to create a good strategy. Mine were entirely too strict and didn’t give me a chance to totally be creative. If I look back at what I was doing, I was strategizing things down to the very bone—my goal wasn’t to get more Twitter followers, but it was to have 100 new followers a week.

My goal wasn’t to just create a website, but it was to create three types of freebies a week and get a certain amount of folks to download them. Thinking like that didn’t leave room for error, which I liked, but it also didn’t leave room for opportunity. If the results weren’t as I expected, then it was wrong.

Now if we recall, I said the things I did to have a bit of fun and be creative were getting noticed much more. I have two theories for that:

1. While I still had a strategy, I was being creative. I strategized by saying, “Hey, I see people asking how to make this kind of effect in Photoshop, let me make a screencast video and put it online.” That was it. Nothing else, really. I didn’t even write a transcript (which I would do in the future). The idea here is that I gave my “product” time to sit and breathe and be itself. Perhaps with my other idea, I was too involved. Over-strategizing can be the death of any strategy. You’ve got to give your idea time to stretch out and grow and figure out what else it NEEDS to be. You can’t create something and immediately expect it to be something more. Especially when it was as generic as my over-strategized idea.There is an issue with trying to be too involved.
2. People like creativity. Doing something new, or seemingly new, is smiled upon. I think there are a ton of psychological things we can explore here, but basically the idea is that folks are attracted to things that are new, that are different, that are unique. Think about the designers that stand out to you the most or the musicians and companies that are up and coming. Don’t they all have something new or unique to offer? Most times they do, and most times they start by serving a small niche, who were immediately attracted to it. Then as they got older, and got some more feedback, they figured out how to make it a monster—think of Macintosh back when they first started. Some of the greatest sites, products, musicians, etc. came about pretty much by accident (with little to no strategic backing).

The winner is…

I’m not saying that it’s bad to have a strategy but I am saying it is terrible to over-think some things. It’s also hard to put a strategy behind a purely creative idea. Strategies are extremely important to products or services that come about strictly to solve a problem.

Most app and program developers have found a problem and developed some app to try and help out. For example, with these high gas prices I was wondering (and hoping) there was an app out there that could tell me how close the cheapest gas was. I had a problem and needed a solution. Now that deserves a strategy for sure—how to get it in front of people who would use it and how much they might be willing to pay for something like that.

The thing to be careful of is trying to create a problem for our creativity to solve. For one, you’re probably boxing your creativity up. My bright idea straight out of college was to create affordable everything design for small businesses—I had ads up, I had made connections, but I was putting my creativity in one lane—small businesses. I was only following small businesses on Twitter and my portfolio only had stuff up for small businesses.

It sounded right, but I kind of made that strategic decision without letting my creativity find its own way. Secondly, being creative is a very sensitive thing—you can’t just push it on everyone and expect them to like it. Sometimes it’s best to just put your best foot forward and see what you get and go from there.

I know this is going against everything everyone else has taught you. Hell, it’s going against everything I was taught, but sometimes we’ve got to take risks and find out what ends up working for us. Take the feedback, cultivate it, and make something great.

Kendra Gaines is a freelance designer from Virginia, USA. Connect with her.

Do you feel like this theory about creativity is true? What are your results when it comes to strategy vs. creativity?

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You just can’t seem to create anything with enough power or spunk—heck, you may just be staring at your screen or sketchbook for hours straight.

It’s truly no fun at all to feel stuck and helpless, especially when your work seems to keep piling up. You feel like you’re stuck in a box, trying to figure a way out. You may try to do something, like step away for a few then come back, but what if that doesn’t work?

Relax and try not to stress. Take a look at these five simple ways you can help yourself remove the block and create some really amazing work before your deadline passes.

1. Listen to music

If you’re anything like me, music helps your creative process and is absolutely essential. Now, I’m part musician, so I understand and break down music a bit differently than those who are not. However, as a creative, music relays to me different emotions and also different colors and shapes and stuff. If I hear a good song, I can create a whole picture or scene based off the one song. If you have ever listened to a song and thought about an ideal music video for it, then you can relate to what I’m saying. Good music creates good images for you.

When you are at a blockage, new music can really open up the images you see and create. Sometimes we get used to stuff and we need new things to broaden our horizons. We all have our favorites and our classics, but listening to the same music can get boring and pretty much render the same images we see in our heads.

As a musician, I like to listen to things outside of my normal genres because certain ones can get a bit repetitive. If you know you dislike other genre’s, try listening to newer music inside your favorite genre or find old music by your favorite artists. Once you find something, listen to it and let your imagination run wild. Hopefully you’ll have a sketchpad so you can jot down the things you see.

This is my personal go-to when I feel a block even coming on. If you want a place to start discovering new music, I recommend Spotify and 22Tracks.

2. Inspiration is NOT a rubric

Creatives can draw artistic inspiration from almost anywhere, but we typically end up perusing the Internet for inspiration when we get stuck. We like to hop online and see what everyone else is doing. Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad idea—I mean, how else are we supposed to keep up with what’s modern? The issue is just that after awhile, pretty much everything starts to look and feel the same. If you desire to be a true innovator, you’ve got to see and do things differently.

Perusing through pages of work that is already created is typically helpful, but it seems some designers look at a creative solution and try to attach it on to their own project. For example, if you see a project that uses colored squares and bold text to get the point across, that shouldn’t mean you should do exactly the same. It should, however, signal to you that there is a creative solution in using colored shapes and playing with type weights.

You want to look at inspiration not as a way to design and decorate things, but to understand it as a solution to a problem. This is why I tell folks to frequent inspiration sites that allow you to get a bit of background on the subject. The finished product is nice, but the inspiration is not the design; it’s the solution and the way in which the solution was achieved.

3. Go outside

The answers to your creative block are everywhere, but the greatest place to find solid inspiration is the great outdoors. Mother Nature has put together probably some of the best color schemes and shapes and so much more. Think about what you’re looking for and how it interacts with other elements. The freeness, and depending on your location, the serenity of being outside is just so helpful to the creative process. And Mother Nature doesn’t mind if we borrow a couple of ideas from her.

So, what if you don’t live in a place packed with insects and shrubbery? Man made things are just as interesting. As a matter of fact, I find a lot of people gain inspiration from architecture. Buildings are powerful and are often so consistently themed—they also give you great insight into interaction between different textures as well as interactions between different shapes. Incorporating some of the things you see in the city into your projects can end up being extremely beneficial.

And if you don’t get along with insects or taxi cabs, check out a museum.

4. Forget about it

If your deadline is 24 hours away, then this may not be the best idea, but pushing your project to the back of your mind can really help you come up with some of your greatest ideas. When we think about something too hard we tend to live life around it; we talk about it, we ask questions about it, etc. When you do this, you are forcing something to come out of you that may not be there–this can stress you out and ultimately be unhealthy.

When you’re in a place or situation where you have to deal with the topic, it doesn’t always help. Some of our best ideas are organic and come up through the most casual conversations and actions. I went to school to learn about advertising, and one of my professors would always tell us not to talk about our projects with our partners when conceptualizing. The idea was just to have an organic meeting, click with the individuals and the space and get something out of that.

It sounds absolutely farfetched but some of my greatest ideas came out of just casually talking with someone. Think about it; we react well to things we can relate to, especially when talking about ad campaigns or something that an audience will see. When we force ideas out, they tend to come out just that way–feeling forced and unrelatable. Find a partner, grab a cup of coffee and just talk to someone about something totally unrelated and see what you come up with.

5. The bare minimums

This is a really simple idea that I like to use whether I’m stuck or not because it really helps me create my own style. Whatever your design program of choice, just use the stock plug ins.

We love to look for Photoshop brushes and extra filters, etc., but I think being creative really comes from within and what you are able to create. When we get into the excess things, we start to really rely on them and they become center pieces for our designs. There are some essentials for sure, but using the bare minimums in your design program can really get you to thinking about different techniques and building ideas around them.

Eventually you can create your own textures and vectors and so forth, but having all the excess removed gets you into experimenting with different tools and filters. Perhaps you can find something you like and enjoy and roll with it.

Relaxation is Key

When your projects deadline is coming at you full speed and you have nothing, it’s so easy to tense up and stress out. If you’re feeling designer’s block coming or you feel the stress about to flood in, the answer is simple: just relax.

Designer’s block is totally natural and often bound to happen. Relax, get loose and pick up your sketch book. Figure out something that works for you to get your creative juices flowing and begin to execute.

Kendra Gaines is a freelance designer from Virginia, USA. Connect with her.

How do you like to get over your creative block?

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I decided to call myself a designer then, and fortunately, I stuck with it—I had my hands in a bunch of other things I sucked at at the time, one of which was softball. I’m glad I eventually cultivated my design hobby and got serious about it.

It seems like when kids (and some adults) get their hands on some version of Photoshop or Illustrator or what have you, they automatically deem themselves designers. Now, I’m not one of those people who get mad at the newbies coming in and ruining stuff because I’m all about community and I want to see everyone succeed—but I will say, you can’t just jump right in and think you know everything. There is A LOT to learn when it comes to graphic design and not just about what programs you use, but how you use your skill.

Whether you’ve been designing for 10 minutes or 10 years, there’s much to be learned and figured out. Depending on your path with design, some things will vary, but for the most part, there are three main stages of realizations/characteristics most designers go through.

Stage 1: Design as decoration

This stage is pure excitement—you feel like you’re a small fish joining an elite group of folks. Most designers start here (especially those that are self-taught), however, many skill levels can co-habitate here (note: we are not comparing skill level to maturity level). This is that stage where you just want to get your hands on every cell phone picture you’ve ever taken and doctor it up. As a matter of fact, after a couple tries and a few compliments you feel like it may be time for you to get paid for your talents.

Characteristics

I’m not saying you definitely suck but I am saying it’s pretty fair to assume you have yet to reach your full potential. Your program knowledge probably doesn’t extend much further than what your professor taught you or what the latest tutorial has you doing, and you’re completely fine with that. You’re idea of designing here is decorating—if you think it doesn’t look good you want to have at it to make it look prettier. Whether it looks good or bad is solely your judgement, as you aren’t basing it off much other than trends and what you like. Design principles and theory really don’t concern you because you’re either just starting and getting a grip, or quite frankly, you could care less. In this stage, your main objective is to be as creative as possible. You don’t have a bunch of different rules and standards floating around in your mind, so you do what you like. Ignorance is bliss.

Client Interaction

In this stage, the designer may or may not be actively looking for business, but if they are, this is kind of how they work with their clients. We’ve got to remember, this person’s idea of good design is central to what they believe—basically these client meetings are worthless other than to throw around a couple ideas because the finished product will be something the designer is satisfied with. Any requests the client has are taken more as suggestion than law. I’m not saying the designer is completely oblivious to what the client wants, but the idea of what it is going to look like or what kind of feel it has ends up coming from the designer’s mind, not standard practices or client input.

Community Contribution

These stage one designers, whether we want to believe it or not, do contribute to the design community. Like I said before, skill set is not directly related to maturity level; for example, you could be a great designer (know your way around a couple programs), but you could still be using design as a means of decoration. Sometimes you get a stage one designer that has an amazing skill set and makes some of the most creative work you’ve seen using no design principles or theories. Because of this, I think pure unadulterated creativity comes out of this stage, and if a more mature designer sees it, they can be inspired to use it in a way that is more effective.

Overall, this is a very free stage of being or becoming a graphic designer. There are no rules, other than to have fun and let your imagination be your guide.

Stage 2: Design as discovery

A large majority of us start in stage one where we are attracted to design and Photoshop—we teach ourselves what we want to learn and keep it moving. I think there’s another chunk of us who can start off in this second stage, especially if we have formal design education. But for the most part we get here after stage one, after working with a few clients, with some decent work in our portfolios, and interaction with some better designers. This is the stage where you get to really understand there’s more to designing than just making stuff pretty, but you just haven’t fully grasped it yet.

Characteristics

Now instead of making your friends party flyer look amazing to yourself, you’re interested in making it look amazing to everyone. You’re starting to realize that if it looks good to others and they enjoy it, maybe more people will come out. That’s a pretty solid realization for design but of course, it isn’t all the way there and you’re trying to look further into that idea. Also at this stage, you’re probably looking into the different types of design, what they do and what you think is best for you—perhaps you’ve delved into some other programs or you’re learning how to code. All you know is that you are trying to come to a deeper understanding of design.

Client Interaction

Things can go a little smoother in this part because you’re actually interested in what the client desires, but most times you’re giving them exactly what they asked for with little to no innovation. Not that it’s a crime, but as stated before, you know there’s something more to design than just creating what someone asked you to. If you do move a bit from what the client asked, you’re likely to try to explain yourself and the vision as best as possible. Fortunately, you haven’t totally lost your creative flair from stage one so you can add a bit of funkiness on a project. However, if they don’t want your funkiness, you may look at it as their loss.

Community Contribution

Your search for knowledge and growing skill set allows you to contribute much like in stage one but with better understanding of some sort of end. While this is a ‘between’ stage, you learn to respect the design community a bit more for it’s help and the design art form.

This stage takes up the bulk of your maturation process, and is easy to revert back to once you get the third stage. I’m all about learning more, so this is a good stage to be in. Just try to get the most information you can in an attempt to be a greater designer.

Stage 3: Design as communication

Now you’ve got most of this whole ‘design’ thing figured out. While I feel like it’s very rare someone can just start off at this point, it’s not impossible. Designers who have matured know their niche and have done their research. The mature designer is able to design with creativity as well as program and principle knowledge. This stage is where you realize that design is not just decoration but it is a means to effectively communicate and get your desired point across.

Characteristics

For you, design is not just limit to the design program of your choice, but design lives everywhere and in everything. You may look at a mobile phone and ask, “why would they put the numbers in this position rather than another position?” That’s an example of design as communication. You understand different theories and principles such as hierarchical design and colors as a means to influence people. Designing has a lot more to do with user interfaces, function, and effectiveness because you understand that if your design sucks, it’s completely useless to your project.

Client interaction

As far as client interaction, I think it has a lot to do with the success of the designer. It’s easy to get the one who is all about creating something the client can use vs. the guy who’s so well-known he does what he wants and the client agrees. Either way, the end product is going to be something that works and is effective. The client meetings are probably a lot longer as well; in our first couple stages, if the ideas weren’t sent through email, client meetings were just ‘meet-n-greets’. Now client meetings are full on understanding and brainstorming sessions, and they’re probably more frequent.

Community contribution

These are the people that make the design world go round. We get to study their processes and their findings (if they are willing to share). I hate putting people on pedestals but these are truly the people to learn the most from, especially when there’s no more ‘textbook learning’ to do. Some things can only be learned through experience and passed on through others. While creativity is not all lost in this stage, good design is fueled by how effective, intuitive, and innovative something is and these are the folks that can come up with the best solutions.

This is obviously the place to strive for as a designer to get that understanding, but don’t be fooled into thinking this is the last and final stage. As easy as it is for an adult to be serious one second and playful the next, it’s just as easy for a designer to revert back to immature tactics and behaviors, especially when learning new things.

In conclusion…

No matter the stage we are currently in, we should all work together as designers to promote shared knowledge and contribute to our community. These ‘maturity levels’ shouldn’t help divide us but should help us to understand what others need. While maturity is only gained through experience, it doesn’t hurt to try to steer someone in a better direction. At 13 years old, I would have loved for someone to pull me to the side and tell me how I was doing it all wrong, and then give me pointers.

While I’m sure there are more stages, more characteristics, and more things to learn, I believe these are the most consistent stages designers go through. Whatever we believe, though, I hope everyone is striving to be as awesome as possible.

Kendra Gaines is a freelance designer from Virginia, USA. Connect with her.

What stage would you say you’re in? What experiences really helped you get there?

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Since the video was posted, it’s been viewed more than 20 million times — far exceeding her expectations. This has led to both baby and family receiving the proverbial “five minutes of fame” in both Canada and the U.S.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you’re really missing out. View the video below, and read on. I’d like to point out some things about this video that I feel enhance its side-splitting hilarity, and that can influence designers to continue to look for inspiration in things that have almost nothing to do with design.

Why is the video effective?

First and foremost, this video is almost unrealistically hilarious. The kid is cute, and he reacts to the nose blowing in an almost cartoon-like fashion. I’ve watched the video literally dozens of times, and it never gets old. It always makes me chuckle.

So the main reason the video is effective and popular is because it’s just plain funny.

But there are a few other things that I feel enhance the experience of watching this kid nearly crap his pants while his mom extricates some mucus from her shnozz.

An appropriate color palette

Study the first frame, before the video is even played. The colors surrounding Emerson are eye-catching, and prepare the viewer for what’s to come.

When discussing the topic of “aesthetic consistency”, the book Universal Principles of Design says: “Aesthetic consistency enhances recognition, communicates membership, and sets emotional expectations.” The colors that appear in the baby Emerson video contribute to the aesthetic consistency of the candid piece.

Here are some of the colors that are prominent in the video:

Baby Emerson’s eye-catching color palette

Do you think you would use those colors on your next web project? Well, likely not — it would depend on the details of that particular project.

But in the case of the video of baby Emerson, the color palette is entirely appropriate. The colors are eye-catching, they’re befitting of the context and content of the video, and they contribute to the viewer’s emotional expectations. The colors also complement each other nicely, solidifying the aesthetic.

Of course, the colors work for a video like this because they’re part of his toys — which are designed to be appealing to young children. This type of appropriate use of color really inspires me to give greater thought to colors that I choose when going through the initial steps of any design.

What else can baby Emerson teach us?

Use of saturated colors

Further on the same topic, the colors in the video are eye-pleasing because they have high saturation levels. Think of the dozens of other funny baby videos or other candid moments made famous on YouTube. Unless they’re staged or over-produced, most of them are pretty drab looking.

By contrast, the baby Emerson video has significant color saturation. Universal Principles of Design says: “Use saturated colors (pure hues) when attracting attention is the priority. Use desaturated colors when performance and efficiency are the priority.”

In this case, attracting attention is the priority, and it just so happens that the colors around baby Emerson are doubly effective because of their high saturation levels.

Yes, the video would probably still have many millions of views regardless of the colors present in the imagery, but in this case they serve to enhance an already appealing visual.

Great storytelling

Again, according to Universal Principles of Design, the elements of a good story include characters, plot, and movement.

The character (baby Emerson) is undeniably attractive and interesting. The plot (will baby Emerson overcome his fear?) is rollickingly gripping. And the aforementioned story moves swiftly forward, as his mom repeatedly tests his tolerance to the nose blowing.

It’s a simple story, but an effective one. Can you imagine someone watching ten seconds of this video, then closing the window out of boredom? The suspense created right from the outset by the look on baby Emerson’s face ensures that everyone that views the video watches every second until the end, to see if he will overcome his unreasonable fear.

Will baby Emerson overcome his fear?

On the topic of storytelling, Universal Principles further adds: “Use storytelling to engage an audience in a design,” and to “evoke a specific emotional response.” The Baby Emerson video does that quite nicely and we should all endeavor to see where storytelling can fit into our own designs, where appropriate.

Baby-face bias

The baby-face bias can be analyzed in a number of situations, and is particularly significant when applied to adults. But in this case, it’s relevant even in the context of babies.

According to the baby-face bias, “things with baby-faced features” are seen as “more naive, helpless, and honest” than things with mature features (Universal Principles of Design). Baby-face features include “round features, large eyes, small noses, high foreheads, shorter chins, and relatively lighter skin and hair.”

Baby Emerson has most, if not all, of those features. Thus, when viewers catch a glimpse of him, we can’t help but feel for him, and the scene thus draws us in visually and emotionally.

Baby Emerson has virtually all the facial features that suggest naiveté, helplessness, and honesty.

This is an important lesson for designers using characters and personalities in their projects. While baby-face features are helpful and preferred in the case of babies, the opposite might be true in the case of adult characters.

First, babies that do not have prominent baby-face characteristics are often viewed as less attractive, less likable, and as a result receive less positive attention from adults. In some cases, this might be a good thing, and might actually assist a baby in learning independence and self-sufficiency.

But in the case of adults, if a baby-faced adult tries to make an authoritative statement, he is viewed as less authoritative than an adult that does not have baby-face features. For example, a baby-faced actor posing as a doctor in a television commercial would be taken less seriously than an actor with more mature features.

So the lesson learned is: Choose your character’s facial features wisely, and make sure the character’s features match the message being communicated.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I just wanted to make it clear that in no way am I implying that the success of this video has anything to do with the principles discussed here. The baby’s reaction to the situation is easily the most important reason for the video’s success.

But in this case, the video has some visually relevant and memorable features that serve as excellent reminders of some design principles that have stood the test of time.

And if nothing else, this article should serve as a reminder that inspiration can be gleaned from almost anything — even from candid and unrehearsed situations, and not just settings that are contrived or planned.

This post was written exclusively for Webdesigner Depot by Louis Lazaris, an author, freelance writer, and web developer. Louis is the co-author of HTML5 & CSS3 for the Real World, published by SitePoint, and he writes about front-end web design technologies on Impressive Webs. You can follow Louis on Twitter or contact him through his website.

Do you see design principles at work in unexpected settings? Share your thoughts below.

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A good candidate for a one-page website is not super-heavy on content. You only have one page to get your point across, and there are only so many animations and tricks you can throw in before they get stale.

Plus, most one-page websites are unconventional in their layout. Trying to fit a lot of content onto one page without looking cluttered is pretty tough.

Potential uses vary, but some of the most popular candidates for one-page websites are personal portfolios and websites for businesses that sell only a few products or services.

If you qualify, make sure your website hits the mark. There are always certain things you have to follow through on when making any website, but the points below are especially critical to single-page websites.

1. Stay focused

Make everything as simple as possible for the audience. Chances are, if you are considering a single-page website, you probably don’t have a ton of content. That’s fine. We’re sometimes tempted to add a lot of fluff to our websites. Single-page websites don’t require any fluffing because their sole purpose is to get to the point. If you are a designer putting together a portfolio, present your best work; don’t get distracted by mediocre projects or your side t-shirt business.

Strip your website of any fluff, and get down to the stuff that matters. While this is a good strategy for any website, most multi-page websites can get away with a bit of fluff, because users will usually know where to find the information they want. With one-pagers, you get one shot, and if the information someone is looking for is not there, you’ll lose them.

There is no question about what this e-commerce website is selling.

This portfolio gets right to the point. A pretty wonderful minimalist design, too.

2. Give the layout a hierarchy

Along with maintaining the visitor’s focus, a single-page website is supposed to showcase your product or service. If you think about one-page websites you’ve come across, they probably have a singular purpose, whether to showcase an agency’s design work or to drum up interest in an upcoming event.

A great design and focused layout can help define your website’s purpose. You, as the designer, have the power to direct the visitor’s eyes where you want them to go. People naturally notice big things first and small things last, so use that to your advantage. Important things should not be the smallest or last things on the page.

Those large-font introductory paragraphs have become so popular on designer portfolios because they get to the point quickly and sound appealing to people looking for a designer. The last thing you probably want to see is what school they graduated from. But you do want to know what they specialize in and what kind of work they do.

Again, you have precious few opportunities to get your message across, so get it right. If you find that you have too much content to be able to do this, then consider going with a multiple-page website.

While this website makes several different points, even within this screenshot, we can pretty much tell what’s most important.

We can tell what this company does, but the visual hierarchy could be better.

3. Clear navigation

Some one-page websites are static pages whose navigation takes the visitor to external websites. For example, a musician might have a navigation option on their website labeled “Videos” that takes you to their YouTube account. Absolutely nothing is wrong with this, and it even makes things easy (especially for non-coders). The only thing is that visitors should know when they are being directed to an external page.

If your one-page website is to showcase a product, and your purchasing link sends customers to an external payment platform without telling them so, you could lose some sales.

Your aim is to keep everything simple. Redirecting users to external websites without warning can be confusing. They might assume that the link is broken or incorrect. Consider using icons (plenty of free ones are out there) or headings to let visitors know where they’re headed.

Here is what not to do. The links at the top take you outside of the website with no warning. This really threw me off.

The design and coding of this website are very unusual. Nevertheless, links to external pages are distinguished by the green circles, and they’re labeled as such.

4. Go design crazy

Now we get to the fun part: using a single-page website to show off. You don’t want the website to be boring or repetitive, so go nuts. Take the design to the next level, and think outside the box. An unorthodox design is fine to draw attention to your product and make it memorable.

One-pagers are becoming synonymous with great design, because you can do more with the bigger canvas. You aren’t forced to use the same background everywhere; you change it across the sections. Scrolling through one-page websites is often like thumbing through a magazine or a well-assembled slide presentation. Exploit the possibilities.

Make the design great, whether by using big pictures that span the full browser window or creating a great illustrated background. You’ll get bonus points and may end up getting featured in Web design showcases.

This design is breathtaking, something like a poster. And the rest of the website does not disappoint.

The cleanness of this design (and the code) is amazing. It makes you stop and stare.

5. Go coding crazy

Much like with the design, you want to show off your coding skills as well. Single-page websites are supposed to be interacted with. The user experience is critical, so pay attention to the details. The code can take your website to the next level.

Some things to pay attention to are the colors and behavior of links (especially the hover selector); the look and behavior of forms (for example, making the form fit the design, and using AJAX and JavaScript validators); submission and error messages (used with the forms and some AJAX); and the grid and placement of content (as well as the content’s behavior in the browser window). All of these should align with the design.

A nice simple way to put code to work on a single-page website.

I may be biased because I like the trick where content loads on scroll, but the attention to detail in the code here is incredible all around.

6. Get it moving

In addition to taking care of the coding details, you can use code to create some movement and excitement on the page. Again, avoid being boring. Give your page a sense of life and motion; make it look like it’s moving with visitors. Add some fun animations or transitions to make the page stand out.

Languages such as jQuery and AJAX have become the standard for creating movement on a website. Whether you make the content fade in from different sides or make the background a slideshow, keep the audience engaged.

This background is an animation. I have no clue what the website is about, but it looks neat.

The transitions on this website are excellent. Love this one!

Kendra Gaines is a young freelance designer for Norfolk, VA. Visit her online portfolio at kgainez.com and follow her on twitter @kgainez

What other things are needed to make a one-page website special?

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The project featured on this post is called “Reflections” and was created for a new Novartis drug called the Exelon Patch.

The drug in question is a prescription medicine for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s dementia.

The highly conceptual photographs shows an older person looking at the reflection of their younger self.

What do you think of these impressive photographs? Please share your views in the comments area.

This post was put together exclusively for WDD by Callum Chapman, the guy behind Picmix Store, a store that sells limited edition retro posters.

How do these strong images make you feel? Share your thoughts below…

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Gabriela has traveled worldwide; her work has always traveled with her and as a result has been exhibited in several countries.

This post features Gabriela’s most recent portrait project, featuring nineteen shots of nineteen different reasonably well known bloggers.

The photographer reads blogs, and reads a lot of them. This project was inspired by the digital age and the ways in which we spend our time. In dark corners, bloggers are adding value to and changing the way we as humans interact with the world.

The bloggers emerge from their corners in this project, showing their faces (along with their computers) to the world wide web.

Soraya Darabi from Foodspotting

Imran Khan from Letters To Romeo

Drew Grant from Crushable

Ruben Natal-San Miguel from Art Most Fierce

Julia Rappaport from Fork Lift

Sarah Dohrmann from Und You Vill Like It

Mike Hudack from Blip.tv

Robin Yang from Candystand

Rex Sorgatz from Fimoculous

Lilit Marcus from The Gloss

Richard Blakeley from Gawker

Daryl Lang from Breaking Copy

Manjari Sharma from Ishaara

Nick McGlynn from Random Night Out

Sheena Sood from Sheena Sood

Jennifer Wright from The Gloss

Caroline McCarthy from The Social

Charlie Fish from Wink

Rachel Hulin from A Photography Blog

This post was put together exclusively for WDD by Callum Chapman. Callum runs a store dedicated to poster prints called Picmix Store and is currently working on a design inspiration gallery.

What do you think of Gabriela Herman’s latest portrait project? Which shot featured here is your favorite?

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One of Julien’s favorite materials to use in his artwork and design is paper, hand-crafting it to create unique one of a kind pieces.

He has worked for some important clients, including the likes of MTV, The New York Times Magazine and Computer Arts Magazine.

On top of these amazing achievements, Julien has been featured in countless publications all over the world, and has also held exhibitions of his work in various countries.

If you like the work you see here, be sure to check out more of Julien Vallée’s work at his portfolio, and follow him on Twitter.

This post was put together exclusively for WDD by Callum Chapman. Callum is currently writing a book about (and called) Junior Design Jobs.

Do you know of any other paper artists who produce awesome work like Julien Vallée? Do you think paper should be a material we use more often when producing modern design – if so, why?

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