Design Fundamentals for Schools, with Laura Elizabeth
Our guest today is Laura Elizabeth. She is the creator of designacademy.io - which helps developers conquer their fear of design through a practical, hands-on, step-by-step process. Laura also developed client-portal.io - a WordPress plugin for organizing projects.
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Audio version:
Summary:
Our guest today is Laura Elizabeth. She is the creator of designacademy.io - which helps developers conquer their fear of design through a practical, hands-on, step-by-step process. Laura also developed client-portal.io - a WordPress plugin for organizing projects.
In this episode, Laura takes the listener through very specific ways to approach website design. Whether starting from a blank page or considering how to improve a website, Laura explores the basics of producing an attractive product that tells your story and prompts the prospect to take action.
Listen and take note on how to identify your target market so that everything in the design flows from that central focus.
In our discussion, we cover:
4:30 Laura and Andrew discuss the process of identifying a niche and building everything in the design on that specific offer.
12:45 Laura talks about the importance of keeping design simple, and how branding is affected by that focus.
17:30 Laura shares where to find inspiration for design.
19:40 Laura and Andrew discuss how to think about effectively using color in design and where to find and use the appropriate typeface for copy.
27:00 Laura emphasizes the importance of quality images in design work.
29:00 Laura reminds the listener that a focus on the unique selling point of the page, a call to action, and testimonials are crucial to producing an effective website.
32:33 Andrew asks Laura about the difference in designing for the mobile phone or tablet audience vs. designing for full-screen computer searches.
38:20 Laura shoots down the idea that a person must be super “arty” to design something that is visually attractive and effective.
42:00 Laura and Andrew discuss the fact that good design is more of a system of educated decisions than a lightning strike of a perfect idea.
45:20 Laura gives details about what is available in her Design Academy course.
Quotes:
8:55 “Who is your target audience? Pinpoint that. You won’t alienate everyone else by going for the niche that fits your product.”
30:11 “Homepage content should focus on the most important job of your website. Is that new students? Current students? Navigation can deal with the other audiences.”
32:20 “In design, less is definitely more - even though it sounds cliche.”
40:12 “Good design doesn't have to be original. It just has to be appropriate for your prospect.”
Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:
Fiverr - https://www.fiverr.com/
Dropmark - https://www.dropmark.com/
ColorPick Eyedropper https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/colorpick-eyedropper/ohcpnigalekghcmgcdcenkpelffpdolg
Museo sans rounded font - https://www.fonts.com/font/exljbris/museo-sans-rounded/family
Open sans font - https://www.opensans.com/
Chaparral pro font - https://www.wfonts.com/font/chaparral-pro
Squarespace website builder - https://www.wfonts.com/font/chaparral-pro
Wix website builder - https://www.wix.com/
Reliable PSD - https://www.reliablepsd.com/
Where to learn more about Laura Elizabeth:
Laura’s Design Course - https://designacademy.io
Laura’s Client Portal Project Organizer - https://client-portal.io/
Dribbble - https://dribbble.com/laurium
Twitter - https://twitter.com/laurium
Where to learn more about Enrollhand:
Our website: www.enrollhand.com
Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com
Our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/