It's a wrap. This session has covered a mix of interface design topics. We've looked at quite a bit of inspirational icon and graphic user interface design articles, after reviewing theory on topics like creating user friendly interfaces. We've reviewed both in depth detailed tutorials and case studies. This session posted across numerous Tuts+ sites: Nettuts+, Psdtuts+, and Mobiletuts+. We'll continue to expand each session as we cover new topics and integrate your feedback. Let us know what you think of this session's material.
Interface Design - CS Content
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Getting Started with Interface Design
In this article we look at five fields that you should aim to learn more about in order to rock at interface design. These fields include Experience Design, Interaction Design, Information Architecture, User-Centered Design, and Graphic User Interface (GUI) Design.
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Three Steps to Fostering a User-Centered Design Culture
As responsible designers we must educate clients on the importance – both the validity as well as the viability – of the user-centered design process, one that gives due consideration to the needs of potential users. With the three steps that follow, we’ll go over techniques that you can use to get your team thinking about what’s really important with regards to the design of their websites you’ll help them create.
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Roughly Speaking: Working within Mobile UI Design Limitations
Today we chat with two mobile user interface designers about how they design successful mobile interfaces and intuitive navigation solutions. We’ll learn how Sacha Greif works with the limited space of the iPad by using space saving UI Elements. Eryk Pastwa discusses how to design for multiple mobile sizes, and how to properly test designs for maximum real world uses. Take a peek at their workflows, and the best practices they both put into place in their projects.
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Showcase of Macintosh Dashboard Widget UI Designs
This inspirational compilation post showcases a collection of 32 creative, unique and easy to use Apple Macintosh Dashboard Widgets, including a selection of default widgets that ship with your Apple Mac, and a good handful or two of third party widgets.
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Designing Realistic Interfaces – Part 1
You have to be great in many areas of Photoshop to be good at interface design. So along with the actual steps needed to create this particular interface, in this series I will also provide as many references to other tutorials, resources and concepts as possible. That way, you can have access to some of the tools that will allow you to create completely original interfaces utilizing the same methods I teach in collaboration with your own creativity. Let’s get started with Part 1 of this two part series.
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Designing Realistic Interfaces – Part 2
You have to be great in many areas of Photoshop to be good at interface design. So along with the actual steps needed to create this particular interface, in this series I will also provide as many references to other tutorials, resources and concepts as possible. That way, you can have access to some of the tools that will allow you to create completely original interfaces utilizing the same methods I teach in collaboration with your own creativity. Let’s move on with Part 2 of this two part series.
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Know Your Icons Part 1 – A Brief History of Computer Icons
As with great works of art, you must look into the past to appreciate the future. With roots as far back as the 1970′s, the humble icon has come a long way. Following is a collection of icons though history. Although there have been many other operating systems in the time between 1981 – 2010, I’ve hand picked the ones of the most significance to modern icon design. These designs show just a small fraction of the icons in the many and varied User Interfaces throughout the years.
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Know Your Icons Part 2 – Modern Icon Design
In the last installment you learned about the history of icon design and how it has evolved from black and white representations of office items into full colored, glassy, hyper-rendered, isometric representations of… office items. In this installment I will be delving further into the world of icons and exploring what icons mean to us today.
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Exploring Graphic User Interface Styles – from Minimal to Futuristic
A user interface (UI) can come in many styles ranging graphically from very simple, all the way to extremely complex. In this article we are going to explore a range of styles demonstrating that there isn’t just one recipe for creating a good looking, and ultimately successful user interface. Of course, not every style is represented in this article; we will be exploring several high-quality examples, representing a wide range of graphical styles from simple to complex. Enjoy!
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iPad Magazine Interface Design
A great magazine is more than just a collection of articles around a theme or idea, it’s a curated editorial experience. Through layout design and copy it can take you to different places and teach you new things. The release of the iPad has kicked off the latest chapter in the history of magazine design. I’ve been working with a startup, Sideways.com, to create our own magazine publishing platform and here is what we’ve done.
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