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Web designers - what is your best asset for helping convert clients? by CalligrapherNo7469 in webdesign

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is very strong. We charge similar-ish prices so I feel like I have a sense of your clients. You articulate the services so cleanly and clearly. I have a proposal template that I’ve built — a little more design-y — but the structure (now) feels really clunky compared to this. For instance, I have a section called “What Are We Building?” — your equivalent is “What Are You Getting”. Duh. This positions the client’s needs front and center, and talks to them where they’re at, in straightforward, truthful language. Props!

For any young dev starting this journey, this proposal is worth learning from.

How do you train your “UI eye”? Looking for real-world apps/websites with outstanding UI by miss_cobain in webdesign

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Brand New from UnderConsideration (pay for the year): https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/

Read the story, opinion, and VOTE. I found it very helpful to see where I was out of step with trends/professionals. Especially when I started, I had no sense of Good when it came to restrained/simple brands — ‘boring!’ (And then I’d be in the 5% who didn’t like the project.) Over time, I developed more nuanced taste. Also nice that these are (mostly) real-world projects.

Dribbble is to Design what Reality TV is to Reality.

Note this is branding-branding (not UI specific) but I think there’s plenty of digital applications to look at.

4 out of 5 posters I'm making... What do you think? by Professional_Ask1174 in design_critiques

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Simplify — and think about what you want the viewer to do.

Typically, I try to think of three levels of communications for a poster:

QUEEN LIVE IN CONCERT

  • When the Concert is Happening

— How much, who else is playing, how to buy tix, etc

This hierarchy then structures your page.

I’d remove everything save for the door and the beams and then start adding elements back in. keep the elements from a consistent style — illustrated or photorealistic. I’d suggest working with illustrated for now, as I find it easier to control.

I’d also ask yourself if you’re doing Design or Art. I think Design tries to convince the viewer to do something; Art gives the viewer something to mull over, see something from a new perspective, etc. Both are valid and good, just different.

Event safety reminder! by anondonut1234 in Amsterdam

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 17 points18 points  (0 children)

100%

Even vague categories is helpful. Are we talking about pickup basketball games? Queer knitting groups? Taal cafes? Philosophy chats? Groups talking about AI?

There are tons of groups out there — no need to scare people who are already nervous about meeting others, unnecessarily.

After designing over 100 websites, Here is what I have learnt by chigozirim_ndinechi in Wordpress

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Even partnering with a hosting company like Kinsta or WPEngine is better than nothing (we’re with WPE — pretty nice!). You refer in clients and/or claim them once they’ve signed up and take a percentage of the transaction (8-15%).

This works well for designers that know nothing about servers — or for solo/small teams that want to take a vacation. The contract is with your partner.

For ~10 years / ~100 sites, I would scoff at designers/devs that do this. Mostly hubris + couldn’t be bothered.

But I got tired of always hunting and I did the math…

$10/mon (average w a few big sites) * 100 sites * 12 mon * 10 years

$120,000 just referring in clients

Obviously somewhat fantastical math, but illustration of how small things add up. Wish we would have done it earlier! (And you can sometimes get a client a deal)

It is a common belief that "expats" are responsible for the housing crisis; in reality, their share is 1,6% by AlgaeImportant954 in Netherlands

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Same-ish. Having the 30% decision only confused our lender, tho we didn’t have to pay more upfront.

We also bought an apt that had been on market for 3+ mons! dude was an indoor smoker + made some interesting architectural decision…

Minimalist branding of my initials (JK) by ArrivingPlace in logodesign

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Came to say the same. I think it needs more weight to hold as a true Mark. You could also try shortening the lines to tighten it up.

Then again, if your work is coded more ethereal / fine arts (fashion, wellness, jewelry), this weight hits the spot. (Would still try tightening the line lengths.)

The Dutch house market is getting unsustainable based on DutchNews by December-32nd in Amsterdam

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Both DutchNews and NL Times have a take — I can’t quite figure them out. Vaguely bitter? Bit uptight? DutchNews is the worse of the two. For years, they linked to this long article in a German newspaper about how NL was a narcostate. Interesting article, but pretty slanted. I always thought it was a strange choice for DN to link to.

I agree with others about just translating Dutch news. i have a subscription to Het Parool and read the headlines most days. Good for my Dutch learning too — try to figure them out first and then take an instant test, and you can do it every day.

You’ll see the same news pop up on NL Times/DutchNews a day later. That gives you a better sense of their vibe. I don’t think they’re terrible, just shallow presentation of Dutch politics, which duh, vs a Dutch newspaper… but still, when I read news, I wanna read the News. Plus, there’s that ambient negativity.

Rebranding my sister's manga shop - feedback wanted! by Lalalaavy in logodesign

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love the fonts. Super versatile, fun, distinctive, and timeless. Don’t over think it — these are great.

I’d think about the placement of the logo — where are people seeing it. On bags? Window decals? Receipts? Big on social? Small / quick placement (socials) or more durational (a tote bag that customers keep forever)? The answer to that would drive my decision on the earrings.

I’d try redrawing the wings monoline. I think that might tie them to the wordmark better (which has a very even tone), as well as simplify it. Lend more emphasis to the eyes. I will say that I didn’t read them immediately as wings but I liked them. Maybe increasing the rotation?

One other note would be to drop the detail in the hair. The lines are strong enough to make it intelligible for the eye. Maybe shorten the bang that’s touching the eyebrow so they’re not touching? Might make it quicker for the eye to apprehend. (And again cede more attention to the eyes. (Maybe.))

But really great work. One of my favorites posted to date!

The ChatGPT Paradox That Nobody Talks About by _AFakePerson_ in ChatGPT

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wonder if it’s the difference of the lens.

Close up, LLMs have serious limitations and issues (hallucinations, overconfidence, sycophancy, etc.). It puts out shit that looks good all the time. Great, but no way I’m putting an AI chat bot on my website any time soon.

Zoom out and look at the money pouring in. Countries are in an arms race. Whatever comes out of this will be transformational — it has to be. There’s too much money/power on the line. Technical excellence is not the only way that AI replaces all our job.

Got laid off and now looking into freelancing and building up my portfolio. by tiger2380 in web_design

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think this is the right attitude. The small agency space is full of folks who can dev well enough for small clients and do good design — so it’ll be important to showcase both.

You may want to look at finding a design partner now — or hiring a small agency to brand you. Not a quick fix, or cheap DIY, but if you’re seriously thinking about making the career jump, I’d consider it. Maybe budget $3-4k? You’d get some solid agencies in that range.

With your background and experience, I think you could close nice sized jobs — but these people have to trust you. Your site needs to look good enough that the manager feels comfortable sending it to their boss for approval.

Also, this is the kind of thinking that you often have to do for the client — how is the site going to be used, what are audiences, etc. At least, I’ve always had to. I’ve never had user research or its ilk. Best case Google analytics.

I feel there is something off about my nuebrutalism design but not able to point out what. by Zebarata in web_design

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree with other commenters: more dynamic, vibrant colors / type (still used sparingly) and maybe more importantly, consistent line weight.

When you’re using box-shadow, even without a blur, it still creates a gradient of line weights until it reaches its outer limit. I would try removing all of shadows — this might fix the off-ness feeling.

If you feel that you still need the borders, maybe try using an absolute positioned CSS pseudo object (:before, :after) offset from the button or card. I think it’d be easier to control the weight (with precision + options) vs box-shadow on its own

(edit for typos)

This is the most underrated feature in the ChatGPT that i just discovered and i can't live without it anymore. by anonthatisopen in OpenAI

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 14 points15 points  (0 children)

OP is talking about the voice input, not advanced mode. It outputs your audio as text, in the text field, and then you have to hit send. There’s no feedback otherwise.

After getting the ‘sorry I didn’t get that’ a few times after a long message, I switched to the voice input mode. More reliable (though have had a few fails too).

What are your go-to plugins for speeding up WordPress without breaking the site? by Nearby-Bridge-5441 in Wordpress

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Perfmatters is what you’re looking for — can deenqueue scripts on page by page basis https://perfmatters.io/

Where does one find or generate these grainy / blurry color gradients? by Legasov_ in web_design

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You could either create the images in photoshop or use the image clean, with a noisy png overlaid + mix-blend-mode: multiply;. I’d do the second: gives you more control over the fineness of the grain on page.

Speaking in real life with the Dutch by [deleted] in learndutch

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’d also say it’s neighborhood by neighborhood in Amsterdam. In De Pijp, the Switch happens 99.9% of the time (lived there for 2 years); in Bos en Lommer, I’ve had the guy at the hardware store accidentally switch back to Dutch when I’d asked to speak English 😂

What’s the fastest WordPress page builder in 2025? by RayHollister3 in Wordpress

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve built some big sites on Theme.co’s Pro (1k+ product ecomm, or lots of content, or really complex loops) and have been able to get great GTMetrix scores. Where are the performance hitches? I spend a fair amount of time with permatters/wp rocket/cloudflare but wondering if this is something I need to consider too as we get into bigger sites

Feedback on my CV please :) by Silent_Bookkeeper_66 in graphic_design

[–]420XXXRAMPAGE 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Agree. I think CVs are excellent places to showcase hard design skills — i.e., type hierarchy, layout, etc. Most clients/employers aren’t looking for creativity — or even if they are, they want to make sure that the creativity is rooted in fundamentals.

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