Web Design | Blog - Stuff We Are Talking About

CSS/JQuery navigation with menu items enlarging on hover without shifting adjacent elements

May 29th, 2010 in Web Design, Web Development, Code

Synopsis: Menu (navigation items) are popping out (font-size increased) on hover without pushing/shifting adjacent menu items.
Bonus: How to center navigation of undefined width.

I strongly encourage all web developers (designers, front-end developers or whatever) to solve all layout problems with simple CSS. Only after several hours of lamentation, declaring an anathema on IE6 (and even IE7), you guys are allowed to use a lovely JQuery.

Masha Safina Front End Developer & Email Marketing

Coming soon to a coffee shop near you...

May 16th, 2010 in Doejo Stuff, Web Design

Doejo Javajackets

...doejo coffee sleeves! Our order with Java Jacket should be arriving any day now, and you'll be able to wrap your coffee cup in these stylish sleeves. They'll be available in Phil's coffee shops around Chicago and of course in the café front of our office when it opens.

Space aficionados will notice the solar system diagram is inspired by the Pioneer plaques.

Jeff Merrick Art Director

Seeking constraints in a web design world

May 11th, 2010 in Web Design, Web Development

Over many beers, and one smashing bout of Checkers with friend and illustrator Jesse Hora, we transparently discussed our love for print design and our ideological positions on web design. The web offers the ease to do complex things in a short period of time. Web design in extremely high demand. It's a cost-effective way for most businesses to speak to their customers. And it's also limitless. The beauty is in it's flexibility.

So, naturally I dig it. At Doejo, we've designed and developed `close to 200+ websites in just under 2 years. I love the versatility with web design. I love the way I can just hop in and rock house in Photoshop, break form and translate to HTML/CSS and post live to a space and open shop. In some cases, within a matter of hours I can sell a product, distribute music, spread an idea. I can launch, take down, relaunch, and tweak to my heart's desire.

But web design also lacks inheritable constraints. Constraints we often take for granted. There are no boundaries, and no end. Unless we create them, we're only bound by... (I am not even sure how to end that sentance.) Print offers immedate contraints. Implications that are permanent, assuming you don't start over.

With web, it's difficult to define the end of a project. Such is why we have ongoing relationships with the majority of our clients. The web is, simply, moving. With print, there is a no-questions-asked end to a project/idea/campaign. It offers the simplicity of just being there. It's interactive, without obligation. And lastly, it's physical. You can take it with you, leave it behind. If you hate it, you can tear it up. If you love it again, you can tape it back together.

We're enamored by the agility in web design. We try to push it's limits, and we act all surprised when we find (again) out that we can do just about anything with it.

We should look to create more constraints in web design. We need to force ourselves to respect the craft, and focus on the fundamentals; color, balance, contrast and use these to create clarity around ideas with the help of typography, illustration, and photography. We should get back to our roots, and get our hands dirty. The web is the most flexible space in the world and I think that's simply badass. But as web designers we should continue to seek constraints, and we can look to print for that

Darren Marshall Creative Director

Comic Sans Gets Naked

May 10th, 2010 in Web Design, Marketing

The new Naked Juice label makes use of Comic Sans

The long line of half-assed PepsiCo redesigns just got longer. In a move that's equal parts baffling and amusing, Naked Juice labels now sports America's favorite font: Comic Sans.

What's most upsetting is this is an otherwise successful redesign. The tightly-tracked Gotham Black is a more natural fit than the typewriter font of the former label. The over-styled background and logo are now confidently flat. And for what it's worth, Comic Sans is more legible than the previous typeface. But without any sense of personality or brand.

Maybe PepsiCo is playing a huge joke on designers. What do you think?

Jeff Daley Art Director

Yelp, what the zip is up with your algorithm?

May 9th, 2010 in Web Design, Web Development, Misc

I love Yelp and I think their model of being a directory for the people is one of the better ones out there. However, the other day when I was doing a local search to see how web design 60657 appeared I noticed the how inaccurate the zip code location search results are:

Philip Tadros Founder & CEO

Need a Recycle icon?

April 16th, 2010 in Web Design

While comping up labels for one of our amazing clients, http://drinkgt.com I needed a recycle logo.. so I made one. And you can have it. Download the vector here.

Darren Marshall Creative Director

Quirks of the web (part 1) - User-friendly form

April 14th, 2010 in Web Design

To the point. Your task is to follow the link that I'm going to provide later and find you local store (Hint: on the left bar, where it says "Your zip code"). Here: True Value.

Human memory is actually strong when it comes to causal things. We feel more comfortable, when things work in a common way, when we get the result that we expect and so on. The question is why would you do this? This is more than usability issue. Most people used to typing something in a search form and hit enter. They don't read what's underneath the input because most probably it's some "useless supportive information". Look at this.