"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."
"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
Website usability is very, very important. People need to be able to use your site with ease. Let's discuss the following formula [ Design/ Layout & Content/ Form ].
Successful websites or mobile applications, have planning stages from the beginning, to bring definitions, for a good user experience. (You must start your website or app, with wireframes and prototypes. Then personalize the content with standards and style.) Your company's custom logo, business cards, brochures, website, and mobile app, represent you and your company. You must have a professionally built website with design and coding. This involves UX (Design) and UI (Development). The UX or user experience is built with the end user in mind.
1) Goals — This involves including the company’s goals of the product with clear objectives. This also involves ideas for the expectations of the end user or “user goals.” (This must be well defined.) This relates to the customer journey or user experience and should include their possible emotion or behavior. Yes, we want to design and establish a good and [satisfied] user experience.
2) Discover — This involves the meat and potatoes of User Experience Design from the starting line. This means interviews and specific questions asked to the product owners, stakeholders, and if possible the end user or customers. This means performing and documenting user research and details of competitor analysis. This also involves designing the journey map or “screen map” that includes the big picture or taking a product from step A to Z. And just importantly user stories are created and requirements are defined. The requirements provide the necessary details for wireframes and custom prototypes.
3) Define — This involves adjusting and refining the wireframes and prototypes. Presentations and ideation is constant for designing the best possible user experience. After collaboration and stakeholder approvals, the final prototypes are combed and presented to development for functionality. Collaboration is constant now to provide a smooth transition from the design stage to the development stage. Now development will add the code-of-choice for the software, app or website.
I am your UX-UI Designer (Web Designer) to design your website template, or custom website, or custom app. Many companies want a custom solution. Fact is, only about 50% of websites are responsive. This means, they should fit or scale to fit the device . . . your SmartPhone or Tablet. (*Note, about 55% of website traffic is from a SmartPhone. This could mean companies are losing potential customers.)
1(User Experience) The users want a 'Good - User - Experience.' The users want to understand, [what are your services or products].
2(Navigation) The navigation must be easy.
3(Content) The content must be understood by the average Joe. The content should be written simply, and never complicate your visitors or future customers. (*Do not make the user think.)
4(Speed) The pages or sections, must download fast.
5(Aesthetics) The website and/ or app, must be attractive.
In summation, the user experience must be a 'Satisfied - User - Experience.' The wording on your website should be bold and powerful, not complex and hard to understand. For example, your list of services or what your company is about should be easily read on the homepage. (The user should not click 2-3 pages, to understand the companies services or products.) The navigation and flow must be very easy, for the user. And, the site or app must be fast, engaging, and intuitive.
Marriott International/ Marriott hotel chose Cloward, as a freelance Graphic and UX-UI Designer to create custom rug designs and to edit their main website.
Aquent chose Cloward, to be one of their many talented freelance Graphic Designers and Web Designers. He created multiple brochures, posters and websites.
Actus Lend Lease chose Cloward, to be a freelance Sr. Graphic Designer. He helped create an extensive long useful catalog with other Graphic Designers and a Marketing Director.
NFL chose Cloward, to be the freelance UX-UI Designer or Web Designer. He made major updates to the User Interface or UI (layout) of the Arizona Cardinals website. He also updated many pages of the website.
High-Tech Institute chose Cloward, to be the SME or Subject Matter Expert, to create the Multimedia curriculum. (He was chosen from a pool of 40 people.)
Rubbermaid chose Cloward, to be a freelance UX-UI Designer, who created wireframes and designed prototypes, and designed a custom website template.
Fruit of the Loom chose Cloward, to be a freelance UX-UI Designer, who created wireframes and designed prototypes, and designed a custom website template.
AT & T chose Cloward, to be a freelance UX-UI Designer, who created wireframes and designed prototypes, and designed custom website templates. Templates for the home page and the internal pages and another for landing pages for advertising purposes.
FedEx chose Cloward, to be a UX-UI Designer, who created wireframes and designed prototypes, and designed three custom websites with PHP Developers.
OmniMetrix chose Cloward, to be a UX-UI Designer, who created wireframes and designed prototypes, and a custom mobile app.
I design interfaces for sites and apps. I love to design and develop Responsive Websites and Mobile Applications. I am known for being very detail oriented and proficient. I would like to share my 10+ years of experience and a breadth of knowledge in Multimedia.
This talented individual is a Native of LaGrange, GA. Jade Cloward graduated from Auburn University Montgomery with a major in Fine Art (with emphasis in Graphic and Web Design), and a minor in marketing. Principal works include custom logos, brochures, Flash files, websites, and mobile apps. Recent years' explorations have incorporated both Graphic and Web Design creations. [He is very versatile in the field of Graphic Communications or Multimedia or I.T.]. Seasoned, competitive, and a breadth of knowledge describe some of this UX-UI Designer. In early 1996, Cloward founded 'CLOWARD DESIGN.' Cloward creates 'Cutting-Edge' custom graphics, websites and mobile apps. And, Cloward still loves to design websites and mobile apps, with collaboration from the team.
A Graphic/Web Designer for over twenty years, Cloward has designed many custom logos, over 100 websites, developed curriculum for LaGrange High School and High-Tech Institute. Cloward, also created a Style Guide manual and Style Guide website, while at Nordson. Cloward also created a custom Icon Library with over 250 custom icons, while at Nordson. Some affiliations include Adobe, Aquent, Actus Lend Lease, FedEx, Liz Conces, Marriott International, NFL, and OmniMetrix.net.
Throughout his career, Cloward has been active in Graphic and Web Design. In 1999, he started teaching Graphic and Web Design out of his home. Web Design came into play during 1999 as a Sr. Graphic Designer at LaGrange Daily News. He has developed static, interactive and e-commerce websites.
He has worked in the Multimedia/ I.T. industry since 1996 until the present. He started his career in the newspaper industry as a Graphic Designer, taught as a Design/Animation Instructor at High-Tech Institute and his most current role was a UX-UI Designer at COTIVITI.
You may have heard of usability testing or user experience. Design and Development teams are turning to user testing to improve the holistic customer experience to ensure a [good-user-experience].