I designed my website to look like a chat log | Hacker News Reader

I designed my website to look like a chat log

ypson.com

55 pointsAlexDragusin55 comments

It’s a fun novelty. I’m not sure what else to say though.

I found myself scrolling through most of the site. Unable to focus my eye on a specific block, on important information. It reminded me of the “I ain’t reading all this, congrats, or sorry it happened to you“ meme :)

There is a reason people reuse design patterns. Users have an expectation of how things work. It does force a certain boring homogeneity. There’s a trade off.

Hope you can keep experimenting!

That was probably the worst possible background given the amount of scrolling required. And he's a designer?

Just curious. What kind of background would you use instead?

some sort of pattern which can be considered in one of those new minimalist designs like from teenage engineering.

I don't know but I also couldn't read the whole thing because dark reader messed up the colors so I would probably have such website work well with dark reader

Interesting idea, but to be honest, my first thought was "somebody should really type up that long Slack thread in a more accessible form and put it on our wiki so that it's accessible to others not part of the conversation".

It fits well with the current trend of "chat as UI", but I think this is fundamentally not a very good paradigm for knowledge sharing, so this probably has a pretty short expiry date as a novelty thing.

I like the idea. I’ve commissioned logos from one-revision-only designers a couple of times. Happy with the results both times and they were not what I would’ve asked for. I only used one revision on one of them, so close to zero-revision.

Organizations can be so stingy and precious commissioning logos; I encourage them to take flyers on services like this one even if it’s not going to be their primary design.

The chat idea is fun. The writing is good which is most important. The text size and gap between blocks were big enough to be legible to semi-quick scrollers.

I like it! By being novel, it effectively pitches the product of the website. Others mentioned how its a bit scroll heavy —I also found myself scrolling for the pricing (should be the second question, perhaps)— but all the info is on the page, so you'll get there if you're interested. Some feedback to consider:

- Is the strict refund policy really necessary? Since you screen clients I'd expect you rarely (<1%) deliver a product the client hates. Perhaps a more traditional 'satisfaction guaranteed' would make the sale easier, and highlight your expertise. But I get that it introduces admin work.

- The portfolio is really nice, I'd find a way to break the format a bit to include a carousel of latest work. Could also be higher-up, the third message even.

- On mobile it switches the response bubble to the left?

- Consider centering the logo; adding some padding-top for mobile.

- It's not clear where you are doing business from, in the EU this can be helpful to know for tax reasons.

- Not having a contact-form in the style of a composing a message at the bottom feels like a missed opportunity!

Thank you for your feedback.

I've noticed the switch on mobile and I cannot figure out why yet (the wonders of CSS), it will come around eventually, I didn't want to hold back just for that, you know how many things never see the light of day due to misplaced perfectionism. Been guilty of it myself "back in the day" and it's part of the growing pains.

In terms of the refunds/revisions, when one does this for 25 years, one starts to see patterns, my best designs were when the customer was not "playing designer" with requests that often don't make sense from the design point of view and let me do my job, that puts me in the mindset of "what would I do if this was MY business" and thus leads to a better design.

Basically, I positioned myself to be able to provide my best, thus remove the concerns around refunds and revisions, unleash one's true potential is in the best interest of my customer.

Sharing this as a potentially interesting, no nonsense, website UI as I think it facilitates exploration due to the inherent curiosity of reading a "conversation", lets the visitor be "in" and feels like a journey.

Initially I designed it somewhat as block of text FAQ but then is not as engaging, at the same time, the information is important for those who are making a decision (in this particular context) and so I figured this at least keeps it mildly interesting.

I am not aware of other designs like this (I searched), so would love to hear if any of you know of similar designs. I can't be the first one to come up with this idea haha

Please keep the conversation about the UI and technical aspect of the website rather than my service. Appreciate your feedback, thank you!

I walk away with the impression of a talented logo/brand designer—perhaps one of the best! But not a particularly skilled UX designer.

It only uses half of my available screen width, and completely wastes the rest.

Also, on loading the page, a total of only 108 words could fit on my screen. Everything is too big. And honestly, hard to read because of it.

For reference, 108 words is about the length of this one comment. Which takes up only about a 6th of the height of my screen, even if it still wastes a lot of horizontal space.

If I came across that page organically, I'd navigate away before reading the 108 words on the topmost visible screenful.

Thank you for your feedback, that would be an easy fix, however you are the first to point it out, so will have to monitor this aspect a bit longer.

Made some adjustments, can you see if it's more comfortable for you now? Thanks.

It's definitely an interesting concept, but I'd be concerned about the lack of any kind of visual information hierarchy. What is the user's eye's supposed to be drawn to?

I could imagine a scenario where a recruiter flipping through candidate sites as quickly as possible would immediately write it off.

What would a recruiter do on the website? It's not a resume, it's an actual service. Does that change your perspective? :)

Hah, I missed that! That said, that does illustrate my point in a way; it's not clear what the site is based on a quick glance.

I had assumed it was a resume based on the "Hi, I'm [etc]" part at the beginning of the chat. Of course, it's possible most users would take the time to read through in detail, but I suspect a lot of people just do a quick look and bounce.

No worries, the people who would normally end up on my website are those looking for my service already, for them they need to get down to details instead.

I wanted to write the same thing: I find the concept fascinating, but I hate the end result, for the same reason: I like when the information is readily available on the screen.

I like the idea, looks really good.

I would put the example logos higher up in the chat is my only suggestion.

Thank you for your feedback, done! Added a link after the customer testimonials.

Your logos are quite good but I don’t like the styling of the chat page. It makes me question the quality of the other design work. That may just be my personal style tastes, though. But on my phone, it is quite large and uncomfortable to scroll through, with awkward “UI” styling. I would imagine it might work a little better if the style were a bit closer to Android or iOS SMS, or telegram messaging UIs. I personally would find a simple IRC client style UI appealing but that’s not everyone.

I mentioned this in another comment but I don’t think UI and logo design skills are the same thing. The author is obviously talented at logo design. I appreciate going out of their comfort zone and doing some UI design. That’s the necessary precondition for improving anyways.

Yes, but they are both “design” so of course it’s going to reflect on the product offering. Nothing wrong with criticizing what is offered for review. It is just a fact.

Was a quick and easy read for me. The novelty works for me as I generally do read every word and dont fall into scanning if It's worth reading. Have used similar models in regards to pricing and revision policies. Thought the logos were excellent and far exceeded the requested price.

There was one logo with little bowl and chopsticks, something Thai related and when I first saw it I was reminded of a cockroach before recognizing the chopsticks and bowl.

Considering how we're all "conditioned" to scroll through a chat log, by the time we come to our senses we've probably browsed through half of your landing page already. Very nice!

I think it might be more interesting (and feel less like a FAQ) if the questions came from different personalities rather than trying to assume the visitor's internal monologue. Maybe at the bottom the visitor (who has been catching up on the 'chat') can be encouraged to join the conversation in a way that fits into the format more naturally than just the email link.

Overall, still refreshing to see a different take at engaging visitors.

Something along these lines was considered but I decided against it because it might cause confusion, the user might think this is yet another AI chatbot etc thus figured this would be better, for the user to be in full control of the next step. I definitely see you point.

Thank you for your feedback.

Love the design. Also love the attitude, wish we had more clear communication like this.

Would absolutely use this service if I was in need of a logo.

I would suggest containing the chat in a framed container that spans the page, and scroll inside it. In the current form, scrolling the entire webpage makes it loose the chat box effect in my opinion. Right now it just feels like scrolling a html page with horizontal cards.

That's a good point and it would help with the illusion indeed!

I don't feel qualified enough to judge the quality of the design itself.

However, presenting your ideas in the form of a chat log, just like some philosophy books that explain their point by using dialogues is a creative approach.

I guess this would also work well when presenting written interviews. :)

> However, presenting your ideas in the form of a chat log, just like some philosophy books that explain their point by using dialogues is a creative approach.

It’s just an FAQ with different styling. “Conversational” FAQs aren’t rare, though they usually tend to be humorous too.

Tiny correction: "Can you tell me what's the design process like?" is grammatically incorrect and sounds weird.

Three alternatives:

What's the design process like?

Can you tell me what the design process is like?

Can you describe the design process?

Good catch, updated. Thank you so much!

> I provide the final files for the design as vector SVG, thus you can have it modified by yourself

Oh, so you admit they _may_ need revisions, you just won't do it. Not exactly reassuring.

Or, perhaps like most creative endeavors, can be endlessly-fiddled. It's an interesting idea - not sure I'd buy into it though. The 'no retry' thing is a bit meme-y.

The second creative can prototype, I don't think there's a particular bespoke 'thing' - why involve the first? If I want something low-investment/effort, there's Fiver/whatever.

This seems to rely on the idea that this person will truly give you the best... when I think it's more interchangeable than they're presenting.

If you expect revisions, it's offered as well, just as a different service (and price).

> Do you offer any other design services?

> Yes, I can help with full brand identity services (logo design, logo style guide, label and packaging, social media design, website prototype), brand naming (company naming, product naming, brandline), brand strategy (evaluation, positioning, messaging, architecture), design consultancy. Get in touch for a quotation (for budgets above $2,000).

It simply means the customer has the ability to do so if the customer considers adjustments, that is still his/her right and I don't want to prevent it from being able to happen, just I don't offer it. I find that very reassuring both from it being clearly stated upfront and from the ability being offered through providing the actual vector file and the rights.

this is neat. i like the guy's confidence. the animations on the work page are very framey for me, not sure if that's by design

What do you mean by framey, you mean not very fluid perhaps?

Correct. Choppy, not smooth; it reminds me of playing a video game with performance issues, like the animations are running at five frames per second or something. Similar to this random video I found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOqNAgBHMzE

The reason for this is due to using GIF and I had to strike a balance between choppiness (frame rate) and file size. If I make it mp4's, on some browsers they don't automatically play. If you enter some of the animations (with red arrow), on the inner page things are more smooth as I mp4 them since the user can easily play there if needed compared to clicking on all the smaller ones on the parent page.

The background does give a slight dizzying effect on scroll. His logos are good, though, and I like his no-nonsense attitude.

If it’s good enough Socrates it’s good enough for Socra-me.

Hm yea okay. Well done I suppose. Not sure what the purpose would be though, but hey - knock yourself out mate

Really nice idea, caught my attention for sure!

Only the actual logos are pretty hidden - and load really slowly…

Haha, nice, you know what else is hidden, treasures :)

But the slow loading is not cool and shouldn't happen given how I am also employing an media CDN in the mix. Since you are the only one mentioning, I suspect it might be an issue at your end. The post reached front page at some point and no indication of trouble on the hosting end. Thank you!

there's no mention of trademark or copyright search.

is the one logo guaranteed to be unique?

Guaranteed to be unique, designed by me, I've addressed this in the part mentioning AI and templates.

i saw what you said, i believe what you are saying, but I'm talking about something different: if you independently with no knowledge of other logos, inadvertently, purely by chance, recreate an already existing logo, the person who deploys this logo is liable for trademark and/or copyright infringement.

I'm asking "when does the trademark and copyright search take place, who does it, if it uncovers that your work is not what a court would consider to be "original/unique", then what happens?" I'm expecting you would accept liability, but are you even aware this issue exists? are you at a bare minimum offering a do-over?

it's a mistake to deploy a new logo with no consideration of the intellectual property issues. sure, if you're small, you'll get a cease and desist and you'll switch to a new one. but if you achieve any type of success and are then sued, it's a major headache to deal with.

Absolutely, in the unlikely scenario you have presented, a do-over is definitely the resolution, that goes without saying, will add this clarification on the site. Thank you for your feedback.

It's an interesting idea and well executed, but personally I'm usually so tired of all the other messaging-based information flows (work chats, family chats, etc.), my brain resists consuming any more "messages". What makes things worse is that here I'm reading someone else's conversation, so it subconsciously feels even more detached from my reality.

Valid point, at the same time it can be seen as it keeps you within a familiar format, which is meant to add a friendly touch to the relationship designer-client.

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