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20 Freshest Web Designs, November 2020

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As we approach our first winter holiday season since the pandemic set in, the world could feel like a very scary place; there is a great deal of uncertainty about the future for businesses, for young people in education, for jobs, for travel. Celebrations are certainly going to be a lot quieter this year.

And yet, the web is far from showing doom and gloom. We’re seeing confidence and positivity in designs across the board. As businesses and people adapt to the demands of social distancing and WFH, we’re seeing a focus on simplifying, appreciating quality over quantity, taking better care of ourselves and our world, and making the most of our time. And this is reflected through design in a variety of ways: visually minimal style, pared down content, fresh colors, statement type, great photography, illustration.

There is confidence in abundance on the web. Enjoy…

Mammut Expedition Baikal

Mammut make outdoor clothing and equipment, and this microsite is for its Eiger Extreme collection. Stunning photographs of Swiss speed climber Dani Arnold climbing at Lake Baikal in Siberia are cleverly interspersed with details of the company’s products he can be seen wearing, along with links to buy. It feels natural, rather than forced.

Wavering Stripes

This a beautifully made site highlighting the experiences of people held in immigration detention centers in the US. The illustrations belie the grimness of the stories told — on the landing page there is a warning as to the nature of the content.

Juan Mora

Proof that holding pages don’t have to be boring, this ‘under construction’ site for interface designer Juan Mora is a far cry from the warning-barrier and stick-figures-at-work gifs of the web’s early days.

Cafecrema

Cafecrema’s simple, one page site creates the atmosphere of 1950s coffee shops through its illustration style, a jazz soundtrack, and a very mid-century modern color palette.

A N Other

Perfume brand A. N Other prioritises quality ingredients and materials, simplicity, craftsmanship, and the environment. Its website captures this perfectly, and invokes a sense of luxury as the result.

Puddle Sound

Puddle is an architectural and interior design company, who also do product and furniture design. For a Tokyo hotel project they created a vacuum tube amplifier, that is the subject of this site. It is as simple as can be with only the barest essential information, and with all attention focused on the product shots.

Hous

Hous Luxe Woningen are a Dutch company who build luxury homes. The high quality images, muted color scheme and generous use of white space in its website reflects this sense of luxury perfectly.

Who Cares?

Who Cares? is an interactive game designed to raise public awareness of endangered animal species. The illustration style is very pleasing, and there are some lovely little details in the animation and sound.

Ugly

This site for sparkling water company Ugly, uses bold, cartoonish typography and illustrated characters to add a lot of character to, well, water.

Glyphs

Glyphs font editor version 3 was released on 16th November. The accompanying site has a fresh feel, mainly due to its striking color scheme. The on scroll animation showcasing variable fonts is a nice touch.

Ruler Agency

Ruler Digital Agency uses color only in the images of work on its own site. Everything else is grayscale, even the images, which can be a really effective technique when it is used well, as it is here.

Zoë Pepper

Zoë Pepper is a collective of freelance brand strategists who work with early stage startups. The site is minimal without feeling empty, and utilises quirky illustration and scrolling animation to good effect.

Karst

Karst make notebooks using paper made from stone, and woodless pencils. Its site has a simple, clean feel with a muted, neutral color scheme that complements the colors of its notebook covers.

London Alley

London Alley is a production company who concentrate on music videos and advertising. Its site is simple and striking with plenty of video, and effective use of split screen.

LoveSeen

LoveSeen makes false eyelashes, and nothing else. The site has a fun, inclusive feel — more girl(and boy)friends together than glossy, high fashion magazine. It’s appealing and persuasive.

Chartogne-Taillet

This site for wine-growers Chartogne-Taillet uses illustration and an animated, ‘hand’ drawn map to create a sense of heritage, appropriate for a family with a long history of making wine in the Champagne region. It is reminiscent of a label on a good bottle of wine.

Refusi Studio

Refusi Studio is a design agency from Italy. This portfolio site is simple, with strong colors and big, statement typography. And a giant cartoon eye.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow is an interactive project from the National Film Board of Canada. It uses tweets to trace emotional ‘waves’ throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Boost

Boost is a gummy (chew) vitamin supplement for the immune system. Big type, big graphics and lots of orange and purple — the colors associated with vitamin C and antioxidants — make vitamins cool.

Philiber

Philiber is a meal delivery subscription service, available in urban centers in Quebec. The site is clean and modern, with a comforting color scheme and a nice mix of photography and flat style illustrations.

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L’expérience client future : pourquoi et comment donner du sens ?

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Les clients optent de plus en plus pour des expériences riches de sens et s’en remettent à l’IA pour toutes les autres tâches. C’est pourquoi les entreprises doivent oublier la routine et tendre vers le sublime.

Des clients en quête de sens

Appelons ça la révolution de la quête de sens. De Facebook aux cours de yoga, en passant par les manuels de développement personnel, tout est mis à la disposition d’une classe moyenne mondiale en pleine explosion (+160 millions chaque année (1)) pour l’aider à donner plus de sens à son quotidien, un objectif auxquels aspirent instinctivement tous les hommes (2).

Bien que les entreprises soient tout de même tenues de répondre aux attentes traditionnelles des clients (des produits et services de qualité fournis avec un maximum d’efficacité et un service client optimal), elles doivent maintenant également se focaliser sur la vie à laquelle aspirent les clients. Si une partie de l’expérience client ne parvient pas à offrir un sentiment gratifiant sur le plan émotionnel, elle sera alors reléguée en arrière-plan (voir « L’IA comme intermédiaire »), où des algorithmes de type « configurez puis oubliez » prendront le relais (3).

Avec des technologies comme le Machine Learning, le cloud computing et l’IoT, tout ce qui est perçu comme routinier ou répétitif se transforme en une expérience client automatisée en arrière-plan. Mais, la bonne nouvelle, c’est que ces mêmes technologies constituent aussi un nouveau moyen pour les entreprises de donner plus de sens qu’aujourd’hui aux différentes composantes de l’expérience.

Les différents types d’expériences riches de sens

Bien qu’il existe autant de définitions du terme « expériences riches de sens » que de personnes, pour les entreprises, ces expériences entrent dans quatre grandes catégories :

Divertissement

Dans des centres commerciaux de Californie, de Floride, du Nevada et du Royaume-Uni, cette année, les clients ont enfilé des casques de réalité virtuelle (RV) et ont déambulé dans un espace conçu pour leur donner l’impression d’être dans un film Star Wars. L’expérience a reçu d’excellentes critiques (4). Les frontières entre les marques grand public, les détaillants et le divertissement continueront de s’estomper, comme en témoigne le succès de films et vidéos YouTube qui sont, pour ainsi dire, l’extension de publicités ou jeux vidéo (5).

Interaction

Dans les petites villes, les gens avaient pour habitude d’aller chez le boucher ou dans l’épicerie du coin non seulement pour acheter des produits de première nécessité, mais aussi pour faire le plein de rumeurs sur le quartier. Avec l’apparition des grandes surfaces, ces expériences sociales ont quasiment disparu. Mais grâce au gain d’efficacité généré par le Machine Learning et le commerce en ligne, les retailers peuvent contrecarrer cette tendance en offrant aux gens de nouvelles façons de communiquer avec les autres et avec leurs communautés. L’utilisation de technologies comme la RV, la réalité augmentée (RA) et l’IA pourrait permettre aux retailers haut de gamme de devenir les boîtes de nuit du 21e siècle, par exemple, ou encore à un stade de devenir un nouveau centre commercial.

Apprentissage

Les entreprises doivent s’inspirer de notre fascination pour le fonctionnement des choses pour créer ou développer des relations riches de sens avec leurs clients. En améliorant leur connaissance d’un produit, l’expérience des clients devient ainsi plus riche de sens. Par exemple, les fabricants de téléphones mobiles se livrent une guerre sans merci sur la qualité de leurs appareils photo. Ils ont donc tout intérêt à offrir des cours de photographie en magasin et à domicile par le biais de technologies comme la RV et la RA.

Aspiration

L’alignement des ventes sur une aspiration humaine fondamentale pourrait expliquer pourquoi le nombre de centres de bien-être et de remise en forme dans les centres commerciaux a doublé au cours des cinq dernières années (6). Cela explique aussi pourquoi les applications de suivi de santé et de fitness sont devenues si populaires. Les clients recherchent en effet des moyens de surveiller leurs progrès et de partager leurs objectifs avec une communauté plus vaste.

Que peut faire votre entreprise ?

Votre expérience est dépourvue de sens ? Créez-le !

Les entreprises qui n’offrent pas déjà de dimension riche de sens à l’expérience qu’ils proposent seront reléguées au second plan par les clients ou par des agents d’IA axés sur l’efficacité et agissant pour leur compte. Elles doivent mettre les bouchées doubles pour maximiser le moindre élément riche de sens dans leur expérience et ainsi se protéger de la concurrence. Elles peuvent utiliser les nouvelles tech­nologies pour repousser les limites de l’expérience ou aller complètement au ­delà de ces limites pour donner à leurs produits ou services une autre dimension, où des expériences riches de sens existent déjà.

Prenez soin de vos clients, ne les contrôlez pas

Dans un monde où les clients peuvent exprimer ce que bon leur semble à un assistant d’IA vocal, il est impossible de contrôler la totalité de leur expérience. Prendre soin des clients est donc la meilleure alternative. Vous les aidez ainsi à laisser de côté le superflu et démontrez votre capacité à rassembler le meilleur dans une sorte de forfait d’abonnement, même si une partie de ce travail doit être effectuée par des tiers (comme une marque de niche ayant une expertise bien précise dans un domaine donné).

Supprimez toute distraction

Une fois la proposition de sens essentielle identifiée, automatisez tout ce qui peut distraire le client des éléments les plus riches de sens de l’expérience.

Fournissez une plateforme créatrice de sens

Les entreprises peuvent créer des plateformes technologiques créatrices de sens à un coût relativement bas. Dans le domaine du fitness, par exemple, les entreprises fournissent des plateformes permettant aux développeurs de créer des applications qui aident les utilisateurs à se sentir connectés grâce à différents types de données : meilleurs scores personnels, itinéraires crowdsourcés et compétitions « Roi de la colline ».

Article publié en anglais sur insights.sap.com

Références :

(1) Homi Kharas, The Unprecedented Expansion of the Global Middle Class: An Update (L’expansion sans précédent de la classe moyenne mondiale : mise à jour) (Brookings, février 2017), https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-unprecedented-expansion-of-the-global-middle-class-2/.

(2) Neel Burton, « Our Hierarchy of Needs » (Notre hiérarchie des besoins) Psychology Today, 23 mai 2012 (mis à jour en septembre 2017), https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201205/our-hierarchy-needs.

(3) Volker Hildebrand, Lori Mitchell-Keller, Christopher Koch et Polly Traylor, « Customer Relationship Status: It’s Complicated » (Statut de la relation client : c’est compliqué), Digitalist Magazine, 18 novembre 2015, https://www.digitalistmag.com/executive-research/customer-relationship-status-its-complicated.

(4) « The VOID – Glendale Galleria », Yelp, consulté le 2 octobre 2018, https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-void-glendale-galleria-glendale-2.

(5) « La Grande Aventure Lego », Warner Bros., consulté le
2 octobre 2018, https://www.warnerbros.com/lego-movie.
« Assassin’s Creed », 20th Century Fox Movies, consulté le
2 octobre 2018, https://www.foxmovies.com/movies/assassins-creed.

(6) Diana Olick, « Malls Hope to Get Back in Shape by Adding Gyms » (Les centres commerciaux espèrent retrouver la forme en installant des salles de gym), CNBC, 1er février 2018, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/01/malls-hope-to-get-back-in-shape-by-adding-gyms.html.

The post L’expérience client future : pourquoi et comment donner du sens ? appeared first on SAP France News.

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Why AI & Automation Are Actually Friends to Design

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Artificial intelligence. Just hearing the phrase has been a trigger for many in the technology world since that creepy Haley Joel Osment film circa 2001. But more recently, artificial intelligence and machine learning strike fear into the hearts of skilled workers for an entirely different reason: job security, or lack thereof.

Smart-home devices, streaming services, self-checkouts, even Google searches are ways that artificial intelligence has seeped into everyday life, exemplifying the abilities of computers and machines to master both simple and complex tasks. In some instances, these technological advancements make our lives easier, but for some people, their proliferation has meant job loss and skill replacement. There’s no wonder that when artificial intelligence starts being mentioned along with web design and site creation, the spidey senses of designers all over the world start tingling.

designers think outside the box, something that AI just can’t do

But let’s get real about what AI and automation really mean for designers for a second. Talented designers with busy schedules should view these advancements as virtual assistants. For some small businesses on a limited budget, the websites that artificial intelligence can pump out might be fine…for a while. However, as businesses grow, change, require updating and customization to adapt to their customer base, the expertise of creative and talented designers will always be needed. Even the best AI that we see today is limited by evaluating, replicating, and revising what already exists. It may be able to mix 1,000 different color schemes into 10 million potential combinations, but great designers think outside the box, something that AI just can’t do.

In fact, rather than being scared of automation, designers ought to embrace automation and artificial intelligence as a way to unleash their creative thinking. Delegate repetitive, straightforward tasks to the right software, and suddenly you have time to bring your best ideas to the table and push the boundaries of your own innovation. 

Where AI has Failed in Design

The ultimate goal of artificial intelligence and automation in design work is a grand vision that has yet to be realised.

Consider the case of The Grid, which began as a crowdfunding campaign in 2014. The “revolutionary” product posed itself as an artificial intelligence solution for building thoughtfully, yet automatically, designed websites in five minutes. Research “Reviews of the Grid” in any search engine and you’ll be met with scathing criticism with only some small praise sprinkled in. Most of the initial users cite underwhelming results, the feeling of being duped by the Grid’s marketing tactics, nonsensical placement of text, and ultimately, the Grid being a complete waste of money for the resulting product. Even at the low cost of $100, compared to hiring a talented designer, most users felt their investment was wasted.

For the AI capabilities that exist now, most small business owners, or those looking to put together a simple website, are better off using drag and drop site builders (Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, etc) that have been around for ages. Even so, there are plenty of businesses still willing to hire designers to take this simple task off their plate due to a lack of technical expertise or lack of time. And let’s be honest, are there even enough talented (keyword here!) designers out there to keep up with the millions of websites created every year, without each one working themselves to death? 

Where Automation Shines for Designers

Fortunately for good designers, it appears for now that the days of artificial intelligence completely taking over their jobs is a fantasy. However, what AI and automation do offer designers is a solid starting point for success, eliminating much of the lower-level grunt work that most designers would rather skip anyway.

Even well-received AI website builders like Firedrop still require a basic eye for design and specialised knowledge to produce truly unique, high-converting, and user-friendly websites. Tools and practices that designers should adopt are the artificial intelligence and automation resources that will help them do their jobs better, faster, and leave them with more time to focus on project elements that AI cannot accomplish on its own.

Bridging the Gap Between Designers and Developers

Well-established brands are likely to already have design systems in place that guide the creation of new elements across their digital profiles whether on social media, various mobile apps, or different sections of a website. But even in large corporations — excepting those who have perfected the process — there’s often a breakdown between a designer’s vision and resulting product from the developers. It stems from the basic difference in how they each approach their work and the limitations of the systems they use.

While component libraries — or even full design systems for that matter — won’t reconcile every question, they provide both developers and designers a source of truth to work from that both parties can understand. Design collaboration tools like Invision and Visme, specifically, keep designers and developers on the same page with automated version saving and code-friendly workflows.  

Understanding the Consumer

I don’t suggest using artificial intelligence to produce content for your site

Digging into and understanding the behaviours and habits of site users is a relatively new component of site design, but offers invaluable insights. Tools like HotJar, Mouseflow, or Smartlook make it simple to see holes or leaks in your conversion funnels, detect which page elements users are interacting with, and which they’re not interested in to refine the look and feel of a page for maximum conversions. Even though these tools provide the data, it still takes a keen eye and understanding of design to implement the right changes to improve site performance.

Site content is another way that artificial intelligence has the potential to improve our understanding of customer behaviour and improve site performance for individual users. I don’t suggest using artificial intelligence to produce content for your site, no matter how much the results have improved. However, static landing pages or a single set of further reading recommendations are unlikely to appeal to the majority of site visitors. Artificial intelligence tools like CliClap and Personyze instantly collect and analyse consumer data to provide dynamic, personalised experiences that drive more leads and encourage conversions. Creative designers will also learn from this data to improve customer experience with other pages or elements throughout the site.

Removing Distracting, Time-Sucking Administrative Tasks

Because “artificial intelligence” has become a term with such negative connotations, we often overlook the simple way that AI actually makes our work lives better and easier. Machine learning in email filtering is a great example of this. Consider a simple interface like a Gmail inbox. We have the option to mark certain senders as spam or as important, and our inbox learns that type of communication is and isn’t useful to the user. Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, and more all take cues from the user behaviour of liking a certain song, artists, or genre of music to build customised playlists. There are a myriad of ways that artificial intelligence and its branches of disciplines merge with our everyday lives. 

Some of the most useful automations for business, and especially for designers, are related to the administrative tasks that frequently take time away or distract from more pressing projects. A perfect example of automation that can relieve stress and cut down on mindless work is an email autoresponder. I’ve always found that having time blocked off in my calendar to tackle complex or important projects helps me to focus on the task at hand and be more efficient. In order to more effectively block out my time, closing my email and setting an autoresponder to reply to all incoming emails serves two purposes: 

  1. Lets those trying to get in touch with me know that I only check my email at certain times of the day and that my response may not be immediate — tempering their expectations of when they might hear from me.
  2. Relieves my personal stress of being tethered to my inbox, splitting my focus, and also saves the time of having to initially respond to each email individually. 

This is just one simple way to use automation in your email, although there are many others to explore.

While Zapier isn’t the only workflow automation service on the market, it’s probably the most well known. Workflow automation reduces time spent on mind-numbing, repetitive tasks and helps designers connect apps that might not natively work together. Do you keep a task list in Todoist? Set up a Zap, then create a task in Todoist anytime someone mentions you on Asana or assigns you a task in Trello.

This is especially helpful for freelance designers who work with multiple clients across various project management platforms. The potential for automation to relieve unnecessary mental overhead for designers is nearly limitless.

Don’t be Afraid of AI, Embrace It

The bottom line of this brief overview of artificial intelligence and automation in design is that this emerging technology isn’t something designers should be scared of. In fact, it’s something to welcome with open arms because ultimately it can make our jobs, and our lives, better. Leave the monotonous tasks of collecting and analysing huge amounts of data or administrative minutiae to the machines; they can handle it.

Save the interesting, creative, abstract work for the talented designers who can turn AI recommendations into unique and intuitive digital experiences. Making the relationship between artificial intelligence and design symbiotic will yield the best results for every entity involved: the business, the AI, and yes, even the designer.

 

Featured image via Unsplash.

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20 Freshest Web Designs, September 2020

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This month we’re going big and bold. Oversized type, strong colors, in-your-face layouts, and little touches of playfulness exude confidence and make a statement. There are some quieter moments too, with thoughtful illustration and more gentle use of color. Animation still features strongly in the details, with circles proving popular in rollover effects. Enjoy.

Fledge

Fledge is a film production company based in Belgium. Their site uses split screen with looped text scrolling in opposite directions on each side. A minimal color palette adds extra punch.

2ºC Earth

2ºC Earth is a beautiful and also scary website that explores the effects of rising global temperatures by focusing on 5 specific locations. Some stunning photography and subtle use of sound take you to these locations as they are now, then show what they could become. The experience is both immersive and unsettling.

pill&pillow

Unlike many digital studios who use the design of their own site to demonstrate their skills, pill&pillow have taken a very basic approach. It is very self-assured, and it works. Random colored strikethroughs on visited links add a nice touch of playfulness.

Ferrum Pipe

Metal fencing is not the most interesting of subjects to most of us, but this site for Ferrum Pipe is surprisingly appealing. On scroll animation and some off-grid image layout brings life to what would normally be, well, a bit dull.

Lucciano’s

With its focus on mouth-watering photography and videography, the site for gelato makers Luccianos, will have you checking your freezer for any leftover salted caramel or stracciatella. The zoom on rollover is a nice effect, and the use of circles with ice cream color backgrounds for rollover text reinforces the gelato theme.

Björn Wieland

UI designer and artist Björn Wieland has created a portfolio site with a simple, relaxed feel and pleasing transitions. It feels simple, but behind the scenes there is quite a lot going on.

Coloursmith

Coloursmith is a tool from Taubmans paint company which allows you to create a custom paint color by uploading a photo. You name your color and can add a story, then you order a test pot. colors are presented well, in different light and with suggestions for complementary colors.

Finn 

Finn make diet supplements for dogs. Their site is fun, modern and clean. Bright colors and an illustration that manages to be cute but not too cutesy make a bold impression.

Highcourt

Highcourt is a new private membership leisure club set to open in New York in spring 2021. Dark blue text on cream gives a softer edge than black on white. The background color changes on scroll are pleasing, and simple line illustrations with occasional gentle animation add to the overall sense of calm.

Elevence

Elevence is the company of product designer Kazuo Kobayashi. The site uses only black, white, and grays allowing the color photos of his work to really stand out. Circular thumbnails are used to good effect, appearing on rollover.

Playtype

Playtype is a Danish type foundry whose site seems to fit their name. It has a playful, almost chaotic feel, with bright blocks of color and occasional animation. Some pretty nice typefaces too.

Neri Oxman 

Neri Oxman is many things: architect, scientist, engineer, inventor, and designer. This site feels like a really beautiful coffee table art book that you want to pick up and look through every so often. There are some nice details too, like the lens ‘reveal’ effect on rollover in a few places.

Modern Recovery

Modern Recovery is a project by sobriety program Tempest. The interactive illustration encourages exploration, to discover different stages of recovery from alcohol abuse and insights from others who have followed the program. The aim is to change our social attitudes towards alcohol and not drinking.

Bliss

Have you clicked on the link to visit Bliss Search? Yes, the link is correct, no you haven’t been redirected to a Google search results page. This Australian digital marketing company have copied the appearance of different well-known sites for their pages — Google, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tinder all make an appearance. The humor in this approach shows confidence, and makes it memorable.

Miilkiina

Miilkiina describe themselves as a digital media space and creative agency. Punchy typography, with great use of blackletter, well chosen images, and a strong header video give this home page an in-your-face edge.

Ukrainian Railroad Ladies

Ukrainian Railroad Ladies is a book by photographer Sasha Maslov. Its subjects are the, mostly, women who work as traffic controllers and safety officers at railroad crossings in Ukraine. It’s a simple site — outsized type, black and white, basic image grid, only very brief text — but it is effective in its simplicity.

Una Europa

Una Europa is an alliance of 8 European universities with the aim of offering joint research and study programs. There is some playful scrolling behavior with geometric shapes moving and changing color that enlivens what could otherwise be quite a dry site.

Bureau Cool

There’s a bit of an old school feel about the site of digital design studio Bureau Cool, with its recent traffic animation. The changing backgrounds on scroll are a nice touch.

Gridspace

Gridspace is a multimedia entertainment studio based in Montreal, and their website is a visual feast. Lots of movement, lots of video, some good use of sideways scrolling.

Nolii

Nolii make cases and accessories for iPhone that work together. The sorbet color palette complements the product colors and the block layout provides a visual reflection of the interlocking of the different products.

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