All posts tagged web

Web design work flow for iPhone

By On May 18, 2012 In Inspiration With No Comments Permanent Link to Web design work flow for iPhonePermalink

iPhone workflow

For a lot of the projects we are working on here at Hellotank we are having to design for mobile devices as well as desktop and laptop screens. We’re heading towards everything we design and build for web being responsive –  in other words, creating web content that will work on any screen size. With new devices appearing almost daily and with them new screen sizes, the old days of designing purely for 1024 x 768 monitors are gone, so we have to rethink the way we design and come up with something more flexible.

It can be quite hit and miss when you’re trying to preview your designs on an iPhone. JPEGs auto scale to fit on screen and appear to be compressed. Trying to get a visual to fit to the screen width without scaling AND still allow you to scroll vertically, as you would a regular web page proves to be a bit of a challenge.

Finding a definitive resource on designing web content for mobile devices can be tricky. I’ve spent a long time scouring the web looking for concise, accurate and straightforward information on what size things should be when designing for a mobile device – specifically the iPhone Retina display. This article on Smashing Magazine is probably the best I’ve seen to date.

But it’s all so overblown. I just want to know a simple way to preview my designs accurately on my iPhone. Through reading other people’s experiences online and a fair bit of trial and error I’ve come up with a workflow that suits me and will hopefully be of some use to others.

This is by no means a definitive guide. This is just a nice simple way for previewing your designs on iPhone etc quickly and accurately. If anyone has any suggestions or improvements to this then I’m all ears.

Designing a website for iPhone Retina Display

Goes without saying but you need: Mac/PC with Photoshop, Dropbox, iPhone for previewing

  1. Set up a Photoshop document at 640px x 960px @72dpi resolution
  2. Design using vector shapes where possible

When you’re ready to preview on your device:

  1. Save a copy of your Photoshop file as a PDF
  2. Drop that PDF into a folder in Dropbox on your Mac/PC (I have a folder set up called ‘iPhone visuals’) that I just drop everything in
  3. Open the Dropbox app on your iPhone/iPod Touch and locate the file you’ve just created
  4. Et voila! Accurate previewing, no unnecessary compression, fits to width and allows vertical scrolling

Thanks Steve

By On October 6, 2011 In Design News With No Comments Permanent Link to Thanks StevePermalink

It's strange when people pass away that you don't know but they've had a profound effect on the way you live your life. It's not until now that I've realised how much of my life has been influenced by Mr Jobs.

Ok, so I'm not the only one that uses Apple kit for my day to day work, but it goes further than that. As a designer, Apple stands tall for many of us in the design community as one of the world's truly great brands.

The Apple ethos of creating things that are a joy to use as well as being visually stunning is what many of us working in digital design strive to achieve every day.

Apple proved to the world that things can work brilliantly and be beautiful. CEO Steve Jobs was the talisman that pushed Apple forward, constantly breaking new ground and changing the way we live our lives in the western world. A true innovator. You only have to watch one of his great keynote speeches to see what we'll all be missing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBhYxj2SvRI).

Making things that more usable, more intuitive and more beautiful than anything we'd seen before. Things that we didn't even know we needed until we started using them, and then we couldn't live without them. I'd wager that Apple played a large part in this great stat too:

53% of young people would trade their sense of smell for technology

The Apple brand is stunning, the mark is timeless. Always ahead of the game - the iMac, the iPod, iPhone and iPad, iTunes. All amazing inventions that changed the way we communicate and consume our digital media.

Always striving for more and a true great of our time, Steve Jobs will be missed.

A Thousand Suns

By On December 5, 2010 In Work by Hellotank With Comments Off Permanent Link to A Thousand SunsPermalink

A Thousand Suns E.P.

Hotly tipped rock band A Thousand Suns commissioned Hellotank to create the artwork for their debut EP. Capturing the dark, emotive passion of the music was a creative challenge. Three colour on body CD print shown above.

A Thousand Suns EP booklet

CD booklet created using all original photography.

A Thousand Suns posters

Rock band A Thousand Suns came to Hellotank in need of some promotional posters for the release of their acclaimed debut. Hellotank crafted this set A3 of posters for the band.

A Thousand Suns website

Online presence created for awesome rock band A Thousand Suns. Featuring Flash, video and audio content.

www.athousandsuns.net

Squeakbangbeep

By On November 19, 2010 In Work by Hellotank With Comments Off Permanent Link to SqueakbangbeepPermalink

An online portfolio to showcase the never ending talents of musician/composer Katherine Summers. A full Flash site with audio player & video clips.

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