Type the phrase "Web 2.0 design" into Google. What do you get? A bunch of tutorials on how to use Photoshop to create shiny, shiny buttons.

Does that mean that you can enter the land of Web 2.0 by taking your existing website and adding glossy buttons, rounded corners, gradient backgrounds, and graphics that look like they are reflecting on a wet surface?

Not exactly.

The term "Web 2.0" was coined for a conference in 2005 as a catch-all to describe post-2001 trends in web development.

It is easy for people to latch onto surface texture - like shiny buttons - but the reality is that many web design trends of the past few years are the result of underlying changes in how the web works and how it is used. Greater browser support for CSS design standards has expanded what kinds of designs can be implemented. The trend toward dynamic and interactive websites has pushed designs to be more flexible and to have clearly defined sections. And, as people increasingly use the web as a platform for social connections, business collaboration, and research, websites that are functional and easy to use become more important.

Shiny buttons aside, here are some design concepts that might be considered Web 2.0:

1. Simplicity

Minimalistic Google sets the tone for this concept, but many other sites have followed suit. Simplicity doesn’t mean bare-bones, although it can. It means that site elements are organized logically and obviously, so that it is easy for a casual visitor to instantly grasp what the site is about.

Modern websites have a lot more going on than websites of the past, and it’s crucial to corral all that visual activity in such a way that it doesn’t turn into a big mess.

2. Personality

For a while back in 1997, web designers seemed to have the idea that being cold and a little dull was the best way for a small company to communicate professionalism. (Don’t forget the stock photographs of serious-looking people in business attire!)

The best modern websites have a strong design personality and communicate a sense of fun. Bold icons, humor, splashes of bright color, cartoons, distinctive visual textures or illustrations — all of these have a place.

3. Attractive calls to action

A "call to action" is a marketing concept: essentially it means telling people in no uncertain terms what exactly it is that you want them to do. In marketing, of course, the thing that you want people to do is something that directly gets you money. "Buy now!" or "Call us today!"

Calls to action on the web include not only standard marketing, but also how to use elements that are free to the user — "Watch kittens frolic" or "Download our free software" are both calls to action.

The best calls to action feature both a visual iconic element, and a text element. These two aspects work together for instant recognition.

And yes, calls to action can include shiny buttons.

"I hate it."

The words every designer dreads hearing.

When you hate your first (or second or third) website design, it’s easy to assume that somebody must have done something wrong. Maybe the designer was lazy, or your sales representative is an idiot, or maybe it’s you, maybe you didn’t "ask right." But there’s really no "right" and "wrong" when it comes to designs. You probably didn’t do anything "wrong" and your sales rep and designer probably didn’t either. You just don’t like your first design. The question is not, "what went wrong?", the question is "where do we go from here?"

The first thing is, try to figure out why you hate the design. Review the specifications and example sites you supplied to the designer. Sometimes it will be because the designer actually did miss one of your specifications, sometimes it will be because the designer didn’t understand your requirements, and sometimes it will be because your requirements didn’t include something crucial. If that is the case, it should be fairly simple to add or clarify the missed specifications.

Of course, sometimes you will hate the design simply because it doesn’t look like how you imagined it would. Or, really, because your reaction when looking at it is not the reaction you hoped you would have. Maybe you didn’t even know your requirements included "no green" until you saw a site that used a lot of green and hated it. Or you didn’t know that you wanted soft edges, or a curve in the header, or a background that’s not white, or an extra-glossy wet look throughout. Well, now you do know. So, even if you hate the first design, you’re now that much closer to a design you’ll love.

All that assumes you can pinpoint what you don’t like. But sometimes you can’t. Sometimes you just don’t like it and that’s all there is to it. In that case, it might be a good idea to supply your sales rep with a longer list of sites liked and sites disliked. Be sure to explain why. If the designer sees a list of six sites that you like, he or she might observe something they all have in common — such as rounded edges, or a textured background or a smaller than usual header image — that you never consciously noticed.

Finally, if you really, really dislike a design, it is important to let the designer know that you want to see something completely different next time. Otherwise the designer might produce a second draft that addresses your individual problem points (wrong logo, different colors, etc.) but still give you a design that looks very much like the one you already know you hate.

One of the challenges of graphic design is that it can be very difficult to express visual concepts precisely in words. It’s hard enough for designers to talk to each other, when they already have a shared background of terminology and concepts – for designers and non-designers, trying to communicate can be incredibly frustrating.

Number one tip:  Use a standard color reference (more…)

We’ve all marveled at spectacularly ugly logos, or unbelievably stupid movies, or completely inexplicable web sites. And when we see these things, we wonder – who came up with that? Who thought that was a good idea?

Often, the answer is: nobody.

It was a committee. (more…)

“But — it looked great on my monitor!”

These are words that every printer dreads hearing. Usually, it means a disappointed customer. If that disappointed customer has ever been you, with a little understanding of the differences between images on print and on screen, you can be a happy customer instead!

There are two major differences between images seen on a computer monitor, and images seen on a printed page. The first is resolution. The second is color. This time we’re going to talk about resolution.

Resolution is essentially a measure of how much information about the image is present. (more…)