It’s no secret anymore that a good social media presence can bring anyone some sweet cash. It’s also no secret that in order to start making money online and become an “influencer,” you have to put a lot of work into your online activity and image. From personalized messages, engaging videos, spontaneous stories, charming photos, to matching backgrounds and fonts, they are all contributing keys to an attractive and followable account. But nothing would matter if the style, the theme, and the design you choose doesn’t match YOU.

If color, glow, bold typography, radical shapes, and retro aesthetics define you, you have to show it to your audience in the purerest forms. How? Let me introduce you to the ultimate social media kits with a retro vibe. Start being your true self online and the followers with flow.

Let’s get started.

1. OMG80s Background Image Pack

The combination of bright colors and radical shapes has always been the ace up the sleeve of many big companies when it came to marketing. Why not use this trend to your own benefit? OMG80s Image Pack not only features eye-catching colors, but the images also come in a square shape, ready for Instagram or Facebook!

2. 80s Synthwave Square Art Pack

Words and images go hand-in-hand when transmitting a message. But words need to have their own personality, too, which can simply be achieved if you use the right font. What looks more like the 80s and sounds more like the 80s than Synthwave? The music genre transcribed into this font masterpiece will wow your followers and fans. Now, the message is just as important. Whether you are the girly, all pink type or the high-fashion guy that prefers quality over anything, use this versatile Art Pack. It will do the job well. Moreover, the files are highly editable and the guide will teach you how to use them.

3. BOLD Social Media Brand Templates

Do you plan on creating your own brand or do you already own a brand? Get your campaign going the right, retro way! Inspired by the Swiss design, this pack of Bold Social Media Brand Templates features bold fonts and overlaying images that create a visual impact. With only a few clicks you can design perfect, captivating Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest posts. The 90 PSD File Design will make your account on any of the mentioned platforms popular in no time.

4. Celebgram Instagram Fashion Pack

Everybody can sell clothes online, but not everybody can do it with style. This particular pack screams glam-retro, and it’s perfect for anyone going for that vibe. The kit comes with 10 Photoshop/Illustrator files, and the templates are optimized for Instagram. You can customize pretty much every aspect of these templates, so let your inner retro-glam shine.

5. Retro 80’s Social Media Template Pack

One of the biggest fashion trends from the 80s and 90s were the colors! Pastels, pinks, blues, and many more lit up the design world back then, and it’s definitely something that needs to be incorporated into any retro-themed social media kit. This particular kit comes with 9 templates in 5 different colors. All of which can be edited in Photoshop.

6. Flat Memphis style Instagram Stories Collection

The 80s were wild, weren’t they? Any time you look back on old pictures, or see movies from that time, they had the strangest patterns on their clothes, in their carpets, and painted on their walls. These abstract patterns are definitely signature 80s retro, and they’re differently the perfect fit for any retro-inspired design. The Flat Memphis Style Instagram Stories Collection takes everything we remember and loved about the 80s and crammed it into 9 templates. Each template has similar style, but they all most cool colors and wild patterns that is unmistakably retro 80s.

7. NEORD Social Media Brand Templates

As we’ve stated before, bold is the theme for the 80s and 90s. At least, what is considered bold to us now. The NEORD kit has lots of bold lines, sharp patterns, and interesting color choices, making it perfect for a retro vibe. Everything is easily editable, and it includes 30 files for Insta, Facebook, and Pinterest. It’s worth the purchase for the uniqueness alone.

8. Stream 10 Duotone Instagram Posts

Some of the best designs out there take inspiration from previous trends, and put a modern twist on it. The Stream 10 Duotone Instagram Posts are a perfect example of reimagined design. These10 Photoshop files take all the vibrant colors from the 80s and 90s and turns them into unique gradients that are sure to light up anyone’s Instagram feed. But, as cool as the colors are, you can certainly edit them if you want to in Photoshop.

9. Colorful Summer Party

Hosting a party soon? Want to shout it out on Instagram? Then you’ve found the perfect retro-inspired stories template to do it. This social media kit comes with 9 vibrant templates that are perfect to share your upcoming house party. Or, maybe you have other ideas for how to use this. No worries. Simply drop it into Photoshop, and change any aspect you’d like.

Start posting
These are just a few of our favorite retro inspired social media kits out there right now. That being said, there are plenty more on the market you can choose from. There is a very clear theme present throughout all of them, but the uniqueness of each one is why they made this list

The key to nailing any retro-themed design is clearly the right choice of colors and imagery. Often times, as we saw in a few examples above, it really only takes a few shapes to pull of the 80s vibe.

We hope you enjoyed this fun little list. If you have any other suggestions and want to share, feel free to let us know in the comments below. Not every occasion allows you to rock a retro design on social media, so make sure you find the perfect one to fit the mood. But, most importantly, have some fun!

(The UltraWide Time of Alan Walker – LG UltraWide Festival 2018)

For all you creators out there! LG understands there’s more to the final output. There’s also the “process.” All the hours spent working, toiling, creating, that no one ever sees. The endless brain-strain and ideating a creator dedicates to their goal is what makes up their UltraWide Time. Few will ever see or understand the process, where all the work and magic happen. But LG understands.   

One of the highlights of this year’s LG UltraWide Festival is Alan Walker, a multiple-platinum DJ/Producer. Alan says he spent years wondering if the countless hours at his computer desk would ever be rewarded. “Making music takes a lot of time and effort, not something that just happens with a snap. It takes time but is a very fun road to go.” He still spends long nights composing on his UltraWide monitor.

Then there’s Action Movie Kid. Daniel Hashimoto and his son created a smash hit YouTube channel. It features a kid surrounded by eye-popping special effects. For this dad and son, “quality time” is spent in front of a camera and computer. Daniel says “my UltraWide Time is for imagination. Every afternoon we come up with something amazing.”

The theme for this year’s LG UltraWide Festival is “My UltraWide Time.” LG focuses on the long hours and tireless effort of passionate creators. This year, instead of your final product, LG wants to know about your nitty gritty “process.” Who would have ever thought? It’s simple to enter. Take a short quiz, describe a moment, or share a story about your creative process. Get all the rules and details at LG UltraWide Festival event page, or simply do a search for ‘LG UltraWide’.

LG actually understands the hours it takes to create just a few moments of work, and is excited to show creators some support through this event. This is the 4th straight year since 2015 that LG has given a boost to deserving creators through the UltraWide Festival.

In fact, LG’s support for creators extends beyond the LG UltraWide Festival. LG equips world-class DJs with UltraWide monitors through the UltraWide Studio program. Also, LG’s UltraWide Academy Sponsorship nurtures the next generation of international artists. Top design, art, and animation schools are provided with state-of-the-art equipment and space for all things creative. The UltraWide Academy Sponsorship first sponsored a brand-new computer lab at Parsons School of Design in 2016. Next was the Royal College of Art in 2017. This year, LG decked out the Vancouver Film School, recently ranked the No.1 International Animation School, with an academy lab. LG is clearly showing its long-term commitment to gifted students in the process of honing their talents.

The new facilities impressed Vancouver Film School’s Head of Animation, Colin Giles. He says, “The creative digital art is an exciting canvas for any idea you can create with the possibilities being endless. The students will benefit from this strong partnership with LG and the LG UltraWide Monitor Academy Lab by having access to a literal canvas that removes any possible barrier to their imagination. With a wide, seamless screen that allows for a more immersive use of the software at hand and a color range that meets their own imagination their creations will jump into reality. ‘The more you see, the better you create’ has never been truer than at VFS.” To see photos of the VFS Academy Lab, head over to @LG_UltraWide Instagram account

Once in a great while, a company truly understands creators. It’s nice to see LG focusing on the long, hours of work others rarely see. It’s especially heartening that the process is getting some respect. It’s time worth cherishing, as much as the result.

Today we have the pleasure to introduce you to our favorite designer of this week, Miloš Milovanović. The Serbian graphic designer and illustrator is currently living in a small town called Trstenik.
He affirms that he is “obsessed with vintage and black and white projects.” His work is characterized by single color drawings in the style of the woodcut or an etching. You can stay updated with his work on Instagram , Dribbble, Pinterest, and Behance and why not, drop him an email for inquiries.
With no further ado, let’s get to know the talented designer better in the interview below.

When did you discover your passion for design?
I didn’t start taking art seriously until sometime in High school. After I finished primary school, I couldn’t find myself in anything else, so I decided to go with the arts. In 2005 I enrolled in high school, department of Graphic design.
So going through the classes and getting close to the design world, design started growing up with me, while my passion started when I was starting at University. Besides studying, I needed to work. At the time,
I had a huge interest in logo design and illustration, so I wanted to work on the things I was interested in. In 2010 left University and started freelancing.

Where does your inspiration come from?
I’m very interested in 50’s Vintage/retro design. So everything that is designed in the 20th century is heavily influenced by me.
Beside this, I get inspired by listening to a good music and collecting and observing old world illustrations.

What were your biggest accomplishment and biggest failure in graphic-design?
I would say persistence is the biggest accomplishment for me.
Failure… Honestly, can’t think of any. I just like everything I do, projects, clients and my workplace.

How would you describe the world of graphic design in your country?
We have a lot of talented designers here, but unfortunately, Graphic design in Serbia is not much respected, from local clients.
Buyers can not value design work much here, so many designers and colleagues I know from here, work internationally.
But I hope this will be changed in the near future and design will bloom and be more respected in Balkan region.

What is your favorite piece of work and why? How did you create it?
Most of my work in some way reflect essence, culture and the personality of each client.
So I’d say Khan The Conqueror is one of my favorites. It was work for myself and a good technique practice.

What do you think are the most important 3 skills for a designer?
Three most important skills: Drawing, knowing the Software and to be decent in Communication.

How do you stay updated with what is new in the design world?
I have a daily routine to check on what’s going on Dribbble and Behance but and digging through the Pinterest.

Have you worked with any major brands?
Villiger Söhne Holding, Old Elk Bourbon (Dry Town).
Old Elk Bourbon (with master distiller Greg Metze) is pretty young on the market (2-4 years), but they are on the right track to becoming world known brand.

In the last couple of years, I had a wish to work for Spirit and Tobacco industries, so thanks to these projects, I hope I will get more opportunities to work with it in the near future.

Who are your favorite 3 designers?
Saul Bass, Louise Fili, and Simon Frouws design.

What kind of people do you love to work with?What kind of people don’t you love to work with?
I like to work with the people who share the passion for their businesses.

Dealing with the slothful (I-need-it-asap) people and the ones who rather use you as a tool rather than a designer. An insidious drain of time and efforts.
Thankfully I’ve learned to smoke these people out before working with them.

How do you handle stress and pressure?
I think I got used to it a bit. If it’s good stress, I manage to do some creative work.
If it’s negative and then I can’t really handle, I try to deal with the situation, or stay away from the computer and let it overnight.

Advice: Do the kind of work you want to get, love your job and appreciate your talent.

Below, we have selected some of the designer’s pieces of work. Make sure you let us know what you think in the comment section.

Bared Footwear Emblem

Napoleon Emblem

TB&TB Box Packaging Detail

 Crown

DCH Close up

Dope Coffee House Co

Outdoors Illustration

Khan the Conqueror

Hipster Lumberjack

Map Australia 

Mesa Baja Packaging Graphics

OE Crest

Off Trail Outfitters Emblem

Outer Shores Expeditions

Postamark

Signature Graphic

Signature Graphic

Label

Stamp Close up

Stolthed

TB Drawing Process

 Light Tank 

Villiger

Stay tuned for more inspiring work of great designers all over the world.

Web design and development competition can be fierce for freelancers. This is especially the case for those, who have small businesses as their targets. It’s often hard enough to find work in a specific niche. Now, imagine how difficult it can be to create proposals for several different niches – at once!

Doing so can take plenty of time and energy; more than you really want to spend.

“Quick and easy” is somewhat of an exaggeration, yet, hear us out. There is an easier and more effective way to draw in those clients who are in dire need of help.

Here’s how.

How to Target Multiple Small Business Types at Once with Be Theme

If you fit into this picture, you’ve probably been wasting hours looking for the way to pitch your services. Yet, you can take some comfort in the knowledge that many of your competitors are in the same situation.

How then, do you approach selling your services to multiple clients? This can be extremely hard if they are representing a variety of business types. At the moment, there are 13 or so different niches that are severely in need of help in building an online presence.

Be Theme is the biggest WordPress theme and a top 5 ThemeForest seller. It provides you with a nearly perfect way to pitch your services to any one of these niches, or all of them.

You don’t have to limit yourself to one or two. It’s simply a matter of browsing through Be’s 280+ small business pre-built websites. You can choose the template that is the best fit for a given business.

Finding a perfect fit for a given business niche will take up very little of your time. Whichever template or templates you choose can be installed with a single click. Consider building a website prototype that can be the centerpiece of your proposal.

Not only can you do so quickly, but your potential client is bound to be impressed. He/she will be convinced that you care about finding a solution to his or her needs.

Kick off your new strategy with one or more of these Be Theme templates. They are customizable and easy to work with. Moreover, they contain the basic functionality a client in a given niche expects to see.

13 Be Theme Templates for Small Business Owner’sWebsites

1. For Food Stores – Be Salmon

This template’s use of large images to present food items, its interactive menu, and a testimonials section, combine to entice website visitors to act.

2. For Car Services – BeDetailing2

A detailer’s website needs to have a bold, professional look such as this one. Before and after images are a key selling point, and the price listing for services is nicely structured.

3. For Event Planners – BeMeeting

Users want to know when and where meetings or events are scheduled to take place. The countdown clock feature can serve several purposes, and this template’s clean design makes navigating a cinch.

4. For Salons & Spas – BeManicure

A hallmark of salons and spas is that of a luxurious environment, as exemplified by this BeTheme template. The integrated eShop will make your client happy, as will the soft design used in promoting products and services.

5. For Online Clothes Shops – BeDenim

BeDenim also features an integrated eShop. As for the design itself, you’ll want bold color combinations, striking images, and easy navigation like that demonstrated in this template.

6. For Musicians and Music Producers – BeHipHop

The last thing a client representing this niche wants, would be to own a staid, unimaginative website. BeHipHop, on the other hand, includes everything from a video and audio player, to an interesting and informative blog section.

7. For Cafes & Tea Houses – BeCafe2

You can build on this template to show a client how best to present the food that is served, and how to make the business stand out, by letting the large, enticing images and a photo gallery tell the story

8. For Catering Businesses – BeVegetables

This template’s interactive product presentation feature is designed to help your client’s business stand out from the crowd (and your business as well). Users will appreciate the ease in ordering the CTA buttons and price listing support.

9. For Visual Artists – BeDrawing

This template’s impressive gallery is a key feature you’ll want to incorporate in any website you produce for an artistic or creative niche. Your client will be pleased with the inclusion of a presentation video.

10. For Courses and Webinars – BeTraining

BeTraining’s features include an intuitive menu, attention-getting video thumbnails, and easy navigation; everything needed for an eLearning or similar platform.

11. For Nutrition & Fitness Businesses – BeDiet

BeDiet is another template that features large, high-quality images. As an added touch, recipe sections are incorporated into the main menu. A blog section is also included.

12. For Medical Care – BeClinic2

BeClinic2’s crisp, simple design, clean structure, and well-organized, easy-to-read content, represents precisely what is needed in a website for the medical care niche.

13. For Interior Designers – BeCarpenter2

The architectural design, which involves the clever use of white space and geometry in the large images coupled with a professional presentation video, will make a website for this niche a winner.

With Material Like This, Here’s How to Attract These Types of Clients

It is extremely useful to have resources like the above at your disposal. With them, you should no longer have to worry about your proposals being lost in the shuffle.

In fact, you might have a template that enables you to build an award-winning website. Yet, this isn’t enough.

You still need to get in touch with potential clients. Here are two time-tested ways to go about it:

1. Join their Facebook Groups

Search Facebook for businesses in niches of interest to you. You might want to search for those, which could include any or all the above niches. Your search can include both small businesses and entrepreneurs; the more, the better.

Having done so, it’s a matter of asking groups’ admins for permission to post your services. Answer their questions honestly and completely. Then, you should not face any problems establishing yourself as a web design expert.

2. Send the Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs Cold Emails

Cold emails are far better than cold calls. You won’t feel as if you’re intruding, or taking up an individual’s time, nor will the person you’re attempting to contact.

Decide on a business you would want to work with, and look it up on LinkedIn. You should be able to find a key individual to contact.

Email your proposal to that person. Make it clear up front that you would like to HELP them establish an online presence. Make sure to let them know that you can also improve upon the one they already have.

If you emphasize helping, rather than selling, your email is less likely to be consigned to the trash bin.

Close your email with a suggestion or an open-ended question. Just like that, you will invite further discussion. You might even suggest forwarding several examples of the services you provide.

Summary

It’s not the hottest companies on the market you want to focus on. It’s those that are truly in need of your services. There’s no shortage of small businesses looking to establish an online presence. Moreover, there is no shortage of those who have done so, are unhappy with the results.

Check out the 13 niches discussed here. Use Facebook, LinkedIn, and email to pitch your services. Offer your help to the potential clients – this is very important.

Then, it’s simply a matter of using Be Theme’s 280+ pre-built websites. Choose a template you can customize to fit your client’s needs.

Your design is signed off, and there’s just one step remaining. Afterward, you will be ready to introduce your website to the world.

You could finish the project yourself if you had the expertise to do so. Even if that was the case, it promises to be a tedious, drawn-out task you’d rather avoid.

It makes sense to hand your design over to a reliable design to WordPress service. Let the professionals do the work!

You still have to choose a service that will do your design justice. How to find a good one? Look for those, who provide the error-free, responsive, and SEO optimized HTML/CSS code. They should do so at a reasonable price and in a reasonable time frame.

These top design to WordPress services will work their magic to build a product you can take pride in:

Design to WordPress – PSDgator

The multi-talented PSDgator team does many things well, including taking your PSD, Sketch, and AI design files, and delivering fully-functional, easy to navigate WordPress themes. The green gator team even accepts PDF files, and should you present them with a file format that could best be described as somewhat obscure, they do their very best to unlock the code and proceed with development.

You can expect to receive semantic, hand-coded HTML/CSS that’s cross-browser compatible, responsive, and optimized for performance. You can also expect the work to be done quickly.

If you have an existing WordPress theme that could use an upgrade, they’ll do that as well, whether it involves some tweaking, or a complete re-slicing or redesign. PSDgator can also enhance WordPress plugins, or design new ones based on your specifications.

Whatever your needs, just send them your design files and specifications. They’ll look them over, get back to you if they have questions, comments, or suggestions, and give you a free quote.

PSD to Manythings

PSD to Manything’s team of talented and experienced professionals can provide the front-end solutions you’re looking for to meet your design to WordPress needs. They’ll collaborate with you to make sure they fully understand your requirements before proceeding, and they’ll get the job done at a reasonable price.

It’s always a good feeling to work with developers that are totally transparent about the way they go about their business, and PSD to Manythings is such a team. You’ll always be able to track your project’s status, ask questions, or make changes should the need arise.

Providing design to WordPress solutions are only a part of what this team can do. Whether you are a freelance designer, or you represent a design team or agency, feel free to consult with the PSD to Manythings team. They live up to their name.

Xfive

Xfive first made a name for itself under the XHTMLized brand a little more than 10 years ago; switching to the present brand name relatively recently. Headquartered in Australia, with main offices in Europe and the USA, this development agency has established a reputation as a business that cares for its customers, and their projects.

Xfive will be only too happy to show you how they go about their business of converting your design files to error-free, responsive, and SEO-friendly HTML/CSS code. They’ll show you step-by-step, including insights into the coding standards they work, too.

Whether you have a single project or multiple projects, or whether you are an individual designer, a design team, or represent multiple teams, Xfive has the solutions you’re looking for. They can give you a fixed-price quote, a quote for hours required, or one for a term rental.

Goodie

Goodie is not your typical development agency. Having your new website launched the Goodie way involves choosing the member of their development team you want to work with. They specialize in launching websites, including one-page websites, for small businesses. Since they’ve been at it for more than 10 years, you can rest assured your design to WordPress project will be in good hands.

The Advantages of Using Design to WordPress Services

• Your new website will have a modern, distinctive look.

Professional development agencies, like those described here, prefer hand-coding to automated coding. Thus, you won’t have to accept look-alike websites that machine-coding tends to produce. Your new website’s layouts will definitely have a one-of-a-kind look to them.

• Your new website will have faster load time.

When professionals do their job, it results in a website that exhibits faster load times. The reason for this is that these developers do not insert unnecessary or redundant code.

• You can expect superior workmanship

Professional developers take pride in pleasing their clients by doing things right.

• The code you receive will be easy to read and maintain.

Hand-coding, using semantic HTML code, is easy to read. Consequently, errors are easier to detect and resolve, as they tend to stand out. When you have a need to make changes to your website, it will be easier, and less expensive, to do them.

• You’ll be pleased with the UX your new website offers.

There is one key reason to choose a professional Design to WordPress developer. They take pride in creating websites that provide visitors with a pleasurable experience.

A website that provides an impressive UX is a website that will experience more traffic. Consequently, conversion rates will rise.

Conclusion

Investing in a tool that will perform development tasks for you may seem to be a less expensive approach. However, the results you get cannot be compared to what a professional developer can deliver.

Is your goal to launch a website that stands out among the rest? If the answer is yes, then allowing a design to WordPress development service to do it for you is by far the best option.

While User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) are sometimes confused with one another, they are separate entities. To be successful in website design, the similarities and differences between the two must be understood. Just like the entities themselves, UI design and UX design are two different beasts.

Once you understand how they relate to the user, you’ll be better able to address them differently as you proceed with your design.

UI focuses on a website’s look and feel. It is the website’s visual presentation. UI design is a digital task. It generally does not require coding, depending on the tools used, and whether the distinction between design and development is blurred.

UX is what the website does. What gives it life. UX design does not involve coding or any other digital techniques. UX is more akin to market research. Its focus is on customer satisfaction and usability.

InVision

InVision is an end-to-end platform for collaborative digital product design. Create and sketch with Freehand, a digital whiteboard for exploring with your creative team. Create high-fidelity prototypes to rapidly share your team and stakeholders for a faster feedback loop. Commenting and user testing features are there help your team validate your UI decisions with real users.

With automatic syncing and live updating across all your prototypes, you’ll create a single source of truth for your entire team—from design to development to executive stakeholders.

The world’s leading design-forward companies rely on InVision to design better digital products faster. InVision powers collaborative design and unparalleled digital customer experiences at brands from Airbnb to IBM, Starbucks to NASA. Sign up for a free trial and learn more.

Proto.io

Used by more than 400,000 users from the world’s hottest startups, Proto.io has changed the world of mobile and web prototyping; going beyond wireframes and mockups. With interactions, transitions, and animations it helps bring any static design to life.

UX and UI designers can create visual interactive prototypes of mobile and web apps that work and feel exactly like the final apps; without any code skills required. Designers can either design directly within Proto.io, or import their designs from Sketch or Photoshop and magically view them as screens and assets.

Supporting all mobile touch gestures, prototypes can run on the actual mobile device thus making the experience as realistic as possible. Want to test your prototypes and share with potential users? No problem, Proto.io’s usability testing capabilities go far beyond, as it’s integration with popular user testing platforms allow you to see and hear what users are saying while trying out your prototype.

Sketch

Sketch was created specifically for designing websites, icons, interfaces, and whatever else you may be storing away in your head. Sketches vector-based workflow allows you to create complex shapes without a lot of trial and error, or painful tweaking.

The shapes you create easily adapt to changing sizes, styles, and layouts; and everything you create is editable. Sketch was built for the modern designer, and you’ll see it everywhere you look.

Notism

Notism combines real-time design collaboration and task management features into a single platform. This UI/UX tool transforms static designs into interactive web prototypes, or iOS or Android mobile prototypes. It enables its users to share these prototypes and other project information for review, feedback, and sign-off. You can communicate in video timelines, or directly on the content.

Notism also gives you rock-solid task management support to help your team get organized, and ensure they stay organized. Prototypes and other presentation information are always kept under strict version control. Version history is always available to measure project and task progress.

Great Simple Studio

For high-quality UI and wireframe kits or core elements check out Great Simple‘s shop. All their products are built with a wonderful attention to detail and they are compatible with both Photoshop and Sketch. iOS Design Kit and Material Design Kit are two of their bestsellers and they are highly recommended to anyone interested in designing great apps. Their free GUI Kits for iOS and Android have been downloaded by more than 70.000 designers.

Try Great Simple’s products. They will make your design process faster and better.

Tips for Making a Better User Interface

As they have become more experienced working with digitals display, users have at the same time come to expect better experiences than in years past. Businesses need to take heed, and carefully consider the quality they put into user interfaces; but, what does that entail?

Keep it Simple

Great user interfaces are invisible, or nearly so. They are not flashy, overly decorated, or loaded with unnecessary elements. They contain only the essential elements; presented logically, and concisely. Don’t add items to try to be clever, or feed your ego.

The purpose of your user interface isn’t to show off your design skills. If fashioned correctly, however, it will; but in a very subtle way. Its purpose is to help users interact with your system. If they have trouble doing so, they’re quite apt to go elsewhere.

Clear, concise labels for buttons and actions is the key. You need to keep your message simple. The easier a page is to follow, the easier it is for the user to know what to do next.

Make the Interactions Efficient

Make it easy for users to complete a task smoothly and efficiently, and never lose track or where they are, or lose work they have accomplished. Designing powerful software can be a good thing, as long as you keep things simple and functional. Hiding options that are not critical to everyday use will benefit the user.

Be Consistent in Your Design

Since users quickly develop usage patterns, it’s important to maintain consistency throughout the user experience. Consistent interfaces allow your users to find, and stay in, their comfort zone throughout a session. People crave consistency. Give them the opportunity to be proven correct when they rely on it.

Use Familiar Design Patterns

We like seeing things that are familiar and easy to fathom. Yet, some designers insist on making everything they design an example of artistic creation. It’s nice when your app is memorable, but only when it is for the right reason. Don’t make your UI a brain-twister.

Understand How UI Plays into UX

While an ideal UI should be both simple and intuitive, designing one is not without some challenges. One of them is to gather and rely on information from the perspective of the user.

This information, which is gathered from the UX realm, helps determine the nature of the user flow, as well as determining key product and hierarchical information. This information should be gathered before mockup or prototyping efforts are initiated.

Implement a Visual Hierarchy

Make it a point to highlight the most important interface elements to help users find and focus on them. There are many different design approaches that will enable you to make this happen. A simple example would be to make a key button larger or brightly colored to make it stand out.

Conclusion

Often confused with one another, UI and UX are two distinct entities. UI and UX design practices differ as well. For the former, you need tools that will enable you to create your website’s presentation, and its look and feel. For the UX aspect, the ability to user test your creation to ensure user satisfaction is key.

Be’s New Pre-Built Installer

The old Be pre-installer had a lot going for it. For one thing, you could install a pre-built website with a single click, and immediately begin editing. That’s still the case of course. Up to that point, however, the installer has some shortcomings. Selecting and previewing pre-built websites was not an efficient process, nor were you given any indication whether you had the right plugins in place to get the performance you expected.

                                    The old installer’s UX left something to be desired.

To find a pre-built website that would work for you, required scrolling through a large (and every increasing) selection of themes. If what you found wasn’t exactly the right choice, you had to repeat the process. You also had to guess whether you had the right plugins at the time of installment.

Fixes were made to create an intuitive, more pleasant to work with, UX.

• Fix #1 – No more scrolling. Thumbnails of all 250+ pre-built websites can be viewed in the admin area. To get a live preview of a theme, simply click on its thumbnail. It’s no longer necessary to switch to and fro between Be’s presentation page and the admin area.

                          The new Be pre-built website installer. Scrolling issue solved.

• Fix #2. A live search and filter option makes selecting a pre-built website even faster and easier. You’ll come to appreciate this feature even more as the number of pre-built websites continues to grow at a clip of several per month. The filter option lets you check out several potential candidates, and select the best fit without having to repeat the process several times.

• Fix #3. This one can save you some time and trouble. When you’ve selected a pre-built website, and are ready to preview and install it, the new installer will show you which plugins are needed for it to perform just as in the preview. It will also show which of the necessary plugins are already installed, and give you the option to install missing ones.

                        See the plugins each pre-built website needs for it to work properly.

• Fix #4. You no longer have to import the entire pre-built website. This new feature enables you to import the page options, the content, or both, and you can select only those pages you need.

                         You install what you need, and only what you need, from a pre-built website.

This video shows how the new installer operates:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fUVGgnzBmk?rel=0&showinfo=0]

A Review of the 9 Latest Pre-Built Websites

Be Sports Club

Health and fitness centers, sports centers, and gyms like to advertise themselves as being current in terms of facilities and training services. This modern Be Sports Club design, with its cool special effects, provides a sound basis for a website that will serve this purpose.

Be Productions

It’s dark background and smooth parallax scroll effect makes this pre-built website suitable for many purposes. It will serve nicely as a foundation on which to build an advertising agency’s or motion graphics studio’s website. Note how the page’s colors and message stand out against the dark background.

Be Diet

To be effective, a food-related website should feature large, high-quality images that are almost good enough to eat. The Muffin Builder designers went to considerable lengths to make that happen in the case of Be Diet. The images are backed up by a cool selection of special effects.

Be Boutique

If you’re not sure how to make a background video work effectively in your website designs, let Be Boutique show you the way. This pre-built website is also a great starting point to build an engaging, but not overly showy, portfolio.

Be Stone

The Be Stone pre-built website conveys a special message. There’s no reason to have to put up with a company website that is dull, uninteresting, or downright awful looking. Give Be Stone a try the next time you’re commissioned to build a modern, slick looking website for a business.

Be Guest House

Real estate agents go to great lengths to make their properties as fabulous looking as possible. The same is true for individuals who have a guest house or cabin to rent. Be Guest House provides a great starting point for building a website for either customer type.

Be Wildlife

Although Be Wildlife may be destined for a wildlife photographer’s website, it can be put to good use for any professional photographer or photographic studio. This pre-built website makes great use of fixed layouts, in combination with a clever slider and parallax effects.

Be Restaurant

This is a good example of a website that will make visitors want to reach for the phone to make a reservation. As is the case with Be Wildlife, Be Restaurant puts slider effects to very good use. Including people in the hero image is also a good approach.

Be Furniture

Images play a key role in every one of this selection of latest pre-built websites. Be Furniture is no different, and the concept it presents can make it easier for you to build a website any furniture store client will love.

An Overview of Be Theme’s Features

• For starters – Over 250 Pre-Built Websites You’ll seldom have any difficulty in finding a pre-built website that matches what you envision; plus, you can build virtually any website from almost any theme you select.
• Muffin Builder – Working in conjunction with the options panel, this page builder makes customizing a theme and editing a page, easy – without any need for coding.
• Layout Configuration – Building a website page when starting with a blank canvas has never been easier; no more need for cookie cutter-looking websites with this feature at your fingertips.
• 200+ Shortcodes – Add cool features and functionality to your web pages, without having to write a line a code.
• Advanced Typography – Use Google fonts, or upload your own special fonts; Use any style, weight, or size you want.
• Parallax Effect/ Video Background – These are just two of the many special effects that come with the Be Theme package.
• Lifetime Updates – With your Be license, you can look forward to receiving the latest pre-built website releases each month.

And More:

Be’s customer support is first class in every respect, plus you’ll have video tutorials and other useful information to help you along the way. You’ll also be joining 62,000+ satisfied Be users when you purchase a license to use this Themeforest best seller.

Click here to discover even more about Be Theme.