1) Just Creative Design – Bad Graphic Design
Yes, this is a controversial topic, however I hope to raise awareness of some mistakes you may be making in your graphic design pieces that are making you look amateurish, but please keep in mind that none of these are hard and fast rules, this is only a general guide of things you should be aware of.

2) Smashing Magazine – 10 common mistakes in Logo design

A professional business should look professional. New business owners often invest a lot of time and money in property and equipment, but do not often match it by investing suitably in their logo.

3)Noupe – 10 Common design mistakes

Below are ten of the most common mistakes web designers make, along with examples of sites who do things right. Some of these are easy to correct if you’re aware of, others might take a bit more time. But all are fixable and worth the time and effort to correct. While this is by no means a comprehensive list of common errors, it is a good starting point.

4)Daily Blog Tips – 43 Web Design Mistakes You Should avoid

Some of the points are common sense, others are quite polemic. Most of them apply to any website though, whether we talk about a business entity or a blog. Enjoy!

5) Crestock.com – 7 common design mistakes that clients love

From flash intros, to logo theft, to information overload, clients often ask a design team to do a lot of stuff that’s just plain wrong. Here are 7 of the most common mistakes clients might ask you to make — and how to talk some sense into them.

6) Desin cubicle – 10 common typography mistakes

The goal of this post is to help designers and clients understand the importance of good type skills, while avoiding some of the common mistakes. Please keep in mind that most of these mistakes are subjective and can be changed varying on the project, goals or circumstances.

Below is a list of 10 common mistakes used in type design/layout that can make a large impact in the effectiveness and appearance of your designs, in addition to saving you time and money when dealing with printers.

7) Web Pages That suck – Biggest mistake in web design

These ladies are laughing at you. Why? You designed your web site for your needs, not their needs. It gets worse. After they stop laughing, they’re going to one of your competitors’ sites and buy something.

8 ) Andbreak.com – 101 common designer mistakes

A lot of people are nowadays starting a new web site, may it just be personal blog or your own ecommerce site. With a growing number of web page we also see a growing number of web site designs.

The main stream of web sites are flawed with mistakes that are easily avoidable. Here is a list of what I found the most important mistakes made by web designers.

9) Articulate – 5 common visual design mistakes

I was working with a student intern the other day. We reviewed his first attempt at a rapid elearning course. For this review, we focused on the course’s visual design.

Overall, he did a great job, especially for someone just starting out. However, he made some mistakes that are common to many of the courses I see. I thought I’d do a quick rundown of what they are and provide some tips on how to prevent them.

10) Turbomilk – 10 mistakes in icon design

It is much easier to criticize somebody else’s work than to create something cool yourself. But if you apply a systematic approach to criticizing, make a numbered list and prepare illustrations, it will be regarded as a fully-fledged analysis! In my opinion, icon design is undergoing a transitional period. On the one hand, screen resolutions are increasing, hence enhancing icons. On the other hand, we still have good old pixels. Icons sized 16×16 and even smaller are still widely used. And so, here are the most commonly observed mistakes in icon design…

11) Smashing Magazine – 15 common mistakes in E-commerce design

Selling online can open up huge new markets for many businesses. When your store can be open 24/7 and you can reach a global market without the costs of mailings and call centers, it can be a huge boon to your business. But there are plenty of things to consider when designing an ecommerce site. It’s not as simple as throwing up some shopping cart software and plopping products into a database.

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Localisation/translating your website/…

Do what with my website?

First things first, why would you want to translate your website? Half the world speaks English anyway, right? In today’s ‘globalised’ society, clients are increasingly outsourcing commissions abroad in search of the best provider. If potential customers cannot even understand your home page, nine out of ten will click straight past you to someone who has had the forward-thinking to make their webpage more accessible. Even if you’re the best person for the job. Contrary to common belief, tapping into this potential market needn’t be time-consuming or expensive. Plus, doing so will enhance your image to overseas and home clients alike as a modern, international player proactively catering for every need.

The details…

Before anything else, you will need to think carefully about how much of your website you want to translate and the language(s) you will provide. You might just give an idea of what you offer through an alternative home page and possibly a couple of main links. Or you may opt for a version of the entire website. Be practical – having your website in Zulu or Gaelic might be appealing, but it’s unlikely to win you many potential clients. Your energy would probably be better spent adding German or French to inject an online presence in those search engines. A few well-chosen keywords will get you the clicks you need. Then your images can speak for themselves!

Remember to make clients aware of your actual linguistic capabilities, or include provision for communicating when they get in touch. No point wowing them with your perfect Polish website if you can’t then understand their requirements or give them a quote! Similarly, don’t be misleading with your translated page. Nothing will annoy visitors more than finding a wonderfully translated homepage, only to discover that all the links go back to English content pages.

Bring on the translation!

Now that you’ve planned what’s to be translated and how, there are several ways to tackle the translation itself. We’ll outline a couple of the main ones below.

* Do it yourself. If you happen to speak a (relevant – see above) foreign language, this is the simplest way, and gives you the most control over what the translated version says. If you plan on an extensive amount of translation, however, do make sure you have the time to invest in it. Also, only attempt this if you really are fluent in the language concerned, including any industry-specific vocab. Even native speakers make mistakes; anything less and your text is guaranteed to sound unnatural. At worst it will be totally unintelligible.
* Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) tools. These vary a great deal, from commercial software such as STL Trados to online translators such as Google Translate. The latter group is likely to be the one of use to you, and we’ve put a list of some of the better-known apps below. One idea is to try the url translation box in the Google’s tool, for an instant version of your website in almost any language. (Caution: this WILL need revising!)
* Call in the professionals. Getting a professional translator to tackle your webpage saves you the time and hassle of doing it yourself, as well as providing a contact for summarising any foreign-language correspondence you receive. You can contact translation agencies for recommendations. Ask about experience and qualifications to help find the right person for you – a specialisation in your area would also help. Check if they use CAT tools such as Trados or Déjavu – among other things you may be able to negotiate a better rate and a quicker deadline as these can cut out a lot of the more tedious parts of translation. You can cut costs further by simply getting them to redraft an online translation or proofread a later draft.
* Phone a friend. Whether it be proofreading or helping with the initial translation, make use of your native-speaker contacts, especially if they understand your area.

So there you have our brief guide to translating your website. Contact us if you have any questions. Good luck!

Guest Writer: Tamara Bloom

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