Justin Kerr's Blog

Post Office Delivers the End of Web 2.0

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Remember the large fonts, shiny surfaces and lickable buttons from a few years ago? Although there was some confusion about what exactly Web 2.0 was (a movement? a structure? a style?), there were definitely design elements that were emulated, copied and recycled.

The United States Postal Service has never been known for cutting-edge anything, but their take on Web 2.0 style heralds the tail end of this trend. Icons that cast a shadow as well as a reflection? Really, USPS?

Creative Questionnaire: Steven Levesque

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Steven Levesque is an award-winning exhibit and retail designer and fellow RISD alumnus. He graduated in 1990 with a BFA in Industrial Design and is currently the VP of Creative for Bella Group Design Solutions in Coppell, Texas.

Current Project:
Shopping center kiosks. It’s a competitive project. We compete against other businesses with our designs in order to win the manufacturing business. That’s the way it works in this retail area as with our custom exhibit work. We do custom trade show exhibits. We don’t talk about the projects until it’s all finalized. It’s a serious endeavor so we keep our projects hush-hush until we win or lose.

First step in my design process:
I look long and hard at the environment where our kiosks will reside. I ask the customer many questions. I start to sketch ideas as tiny thumbnails.

Aspect of design I give the highest priority:
We have to think of something clever that we can do with the design so that we will stand out in the crowd.

Method for overcoming creative block:
You just have to put the time in. I just keep sketching ideas and thinking of things and it comes. It’s also smart to take a look around you to see what other people have done.

There’s lots of ways around the problem. Sit down with a group, start off with some key words and have a little brainstorming session. Ask other people you work with what they envision as a solution.

You just have to get started somewhere and as long as you focus and put the time in, it will happen. Don’t put in too much time if it’s not going anywhere. There is always one great trick for this. Go to bed and looking at it again tomorrow. It will look different tomorrow.

To be honest I don’t ever have a creative block anymore when I have enthusiasm. Sometimes it’s just getting up the energy.

One typical myth about design:
The belief that firstly you have to design to impress other designers, friends, and peers. When you can impress everybody, now you’ve really done something.

Most challenging aspect about design:
Winning a competition against other talented designers.

Most underrated aspect of design:
The filtering process.

At first you just want to make your own creations. You want ownership. As you mature you learn to listen to what other people have to say. People say a lot of things so you learn to filter it out. When you can listen to the ideas from others and still lead your own project, now you are getting somewhere. You still have to make the final decision on what gems to keep and what to politely ignore.

When I first knew I wanted to be a designer:
High School. I came from a great high school art program. I once saw a book of marker renderings from an industrial designer and that was it for me. Never turned back. I think it was copying the style and techniques of automotive renderings that hooked me. As well I was always looking for an advantage in life. I could really draw well so I thought I better do something that involves drawing. I thought my life would be easier that way. I have to admit it made some things easier.

Inspirations:
I like clever, funny, surprising things. I like that giant topiary puppy by Jeff Koons he did in Bilbao in 1992. I once created a giant topiary cell phone for Nokia and it was basically inspired by that.

Bob Dylan. I know it’s music, but, the way he knocked everyone over with his ideas in his writing had a powerful impression on me when starting out with my own ideas.

Favorite tool:
I use a papermate black ball point pen with a light gray marker. I smear the backgrounds and they look purple. I love that.

Favorite design resource:
Other people. I like brainstorming sessions using word association and other techniques. I just like getting a lot of energy in the room and blurting out a bunch of ideas, but with structure.

The one typeface for a deserted island stay:
I’m not really a graphic designer, but, I guess I would say Meta. A longtime favorite.

Bookmarks:
Now who wouldn’t want a giant baby robot that shoots fire?

Car Design News

Guggenhheim, Bilbao. Just a great building.

Solar ink. I love this stuff. It’s developing.

Design-related book I highly recommend:
Industrial Design by Harold Van Doren, 1940. It’s absolutely old-school and not an ounce of nonsense. “When drawing a cube, make it a little taller than wide. You need to compensate or it won’t look like a cube. It will look squat.”

Currently reading:
I’m reading a Times best seller called Dark Mission. It’s about NASA. It’s heavy on conspiracy and hyper-dimensional physics.

Life Lesson
A really good drawing can always save your ass in almost all situations.

If I weren't a designer, I'd be...
I guess I would like to clean up and renovate things. Perhaps that means I’d be flipping old houses. I like old things like old guitar amplifiers.

Favorite (non-design) past time:
I had a band at RISD called The Lunch. I still play guitar.

Mood Board Observations

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Steve Grothmann, one of our project managers, recently wrote a good introduction to mood boards and explained how we have folded them into our design process. I'm going to expand a bit on Steve's post since I'm the one responsible for producing the mood boards and, now that I have a dozen or so of them under my belt, I can assess their impact on Newfangled's web development.

Pros
Mood boards are definitely quicker to assemble than fully developed and polished home page layouts. There is more than just look and feel to consider when laying out an actual site page: did I include all the elements outlined in the prototype? how does this form work? what happens when I mouse over this component? You can easily get bogged down in the content, structure and functionality of the page and lose site of the design.

There's also more time for experimentation and pushing designs further. Since mood board elements don't include much "real" content, there's freedom to try several different approaches.

Mood boards provide a "big picture" of design (fonts, color, texture, images) and promote a more holistic approach to the design phase of site development.

Cons
Because clients are real people with real likes and dislikes, the implementation of mood boards has not eliminated the "forest for the trees" syndrome. Some of our clients still focus on small details rather than the whole picture during reviews. As Steve explained in his post, mood boards are meant to establish a direction for a site's look and feel. They are much more like sketches than polished pieces.

Some "Frankenstein-ing" (mix and match elements from different layouts) still goes on, but I have to admit that mood boards have reduced the frequency of this.

We've also had some clients mistake the boards for home page layouts. Thus, when we take the look and feel and apply it to the actual structure and content of their site, sometimes the clients are confused as to why their site does not look exactly like the approved board.

Conclusion
Overall, mood boards have been a great addition to Newfangled's development process. They have streamlined the design phase and allowed us to push design further along without getting caught up in the details of site structure.

A few challenges remain, such as deciding when mood boards are appropriate for a particular job (based on client personality, job scope, budget) and making sure our clients understand what mood boards are (and are not).

Picture Your Presentations

Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Before and After: Picture Presentation

View more presentations from justalink.

Here's a good tutorial from Before and After Magazine on how to make your PowerPoint presentations more visually compelling and far more memorable. Hint: less is more.

Note: In order to read all the text, view the slide show full screen .

Creative Block? Go To Prison!

Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

I've heard a lot of suggestions for overcoming creative block: change your venue, sketch, take a nap, etc. But I think I've discovered one of the more effective methods� long periods of forced solitude and an orange jumpsuit.

Photographer Marc Steinmetz has posted some very creative escape tools used by prison inmates. Of course, only some of these hand-crafted masterpieces were successful in springing their owners or else they wouldn't have them on hand to be photographed, right?

Typographer's Guide To Web Typography

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Great post on Jenny Green's blog that explains how to improve your web typography. As a former print designer, I appreciate anything that will stretch the current limitations of web-safe fonts.

Elements of a Successful Home Page

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Your website's home page is the first impression some* visitors have of your organization, so careful thought should be given to which elements will live on the home page. The more focused your home page is, the more likely a visitor will quickly understand who you are and what you do.

Home pages can be broken down into three types of elements: introduction, entrance and announcement. I briefly cover what these are below, but you can find them explained in more detail in Luke Wroblewski's book, Site-Seeing: A Visual Approach to Web Usability.

Introduction � describes your site and establishes its identity. Includes tag lines, positioning statements, images of your product or a brief explanation of your services.

Entrance � provides access points to interior content and explain what's inside the site. Drop-down navigation menus, search utilities, and sampled content are good examples.

Announcement � shows what's new and encourages return visits. These can include blogs, news items, event listings, advertisements or other call-to-action items.

Two great articles on home page design:
Home Sweet Homepage (thinkvitamin.com)
Home Page Goals (alistapart.com)

*The reason I state "some" visitors will access your home page first is because sites that have structured their content with a high degree of search engine optimization (SEO) will have as many (or more) initial hits on their interior pages as they do on their home page.

Hand Drawn Maps

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The Hand Drawn Map Association is accepting submissions of hand drawn maps until April 30th. There's something very beautiful and personal about a device as utilitarian as a map when it's sketched in a notebook or a napkin. Some of the submissions remind me of the hours I spent as a teen carefully planning D&D maps (all of you born after 1980 can go look that up on wikipedia).

Pimp My Battleship: Dazzle Camouflage

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Dazzle camouflage was developed during World War I. Since ships were hard to disguise against an ever-changing sea and sky, a Royal Navy marine painter named Norman Wilkinson came up patterns that would disrupt the ship's outline, making it difficult for German U-boats to target.

The Rhode Island School of Design has a permanent collection of drawings you can view online here.

Creative Questionnaire: Luke Wroblewski

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Luke Wroblewski is an internationally recognized Web thought leader who has designed or contributed to software used by more than 600 million people. He is currently Senior Director of Product Ideation & Design at Yahoo! Inc.
Luke is the author of two popular Web design books: Web Form Design (2008) and Site-Seeing: A Visual Approach to Web Usability (2002). He also publishes Functioning Form, a leading online publication for interaction designers.

A co-founder and former Board member of the Interaction Design Association (IxDA), Luke previously worked as a Senior Interface Designer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), the birthplace of the first popular graphical Web browser, NCSA Mosaic.

Current Project:
At any point in time, I�m juggling lots of projects. We recently released a brand new Yahoo! toolbar, some new enhancements to My Yahoo!, began testing a new Yahoo! front page, and the list goes on.

First step in my design process:
Understand the factors that will influence the design decisions we make. In my world of digital consumer products, these are:

Technology opportunity: what technologies do we have to utilize to make something happen?
Market factors: what�s happening in the space we are targeting? (trends, issues, opportunities)
Customer insights: existing feedback, pain points, observations, ethnography, behavioral data, metrics, analytics, etc.
Resource alignment: what kinds of people, assets, do we have to utilize?
Company strategy: what is the direction for the organization?
And more�

Dive deep into any data you can find to help frame your project. Saturate yourself with context.

Aspect of design I give the highest priority:
The concept or idea that we are aiming for. Getting the right level of buy-in and understanding for the big picture for a product, allows you to bring it to life. I recently gave a talk about this topic, "Parti & The Design Sandwich."

Method for overcoming creative block:
Be a continuous feedback loop. That means continuous input: reading books and blogs, attending talks and conferences, using the medium you design for. It also means continuous output: writing books and blogs, speaking at conferences, designing.

One typical myth about design:
There�s a point when you are done designing. Because we are designing for people and people are �time bound entities moving from cradle to grave� (to quote Bruce Sterling) people�s problems are always changing. So really, design is never done.

Most challenging aspect about design:
Bringing a 1.0 product to life.

Most underrated aspect of design:
Visual organization. Visual organization utilizes the principles of perception (how we make sense of what we see) to construct a narrative. Through applications of contrast, visual designers can communicate the steps required to complete a task, the relationships between information, or the hierarchy between interface elements. So clearly visual organization is a key component for successful interface designs.

Unfortunately, the bulk of discussions about the effectiveness of Web design don�t focus on visual organization systems. Instead, they are limited to a subjective analysis of the personality (look and feel) of an interface. Personality is achieved through a judicious selection of colors, fonts, patterns, images, and visual elements designed to communicate a particular message to an audience. But just about everyone has a color or font preference, so when asked to evaluate visual design that�s were they turn first.

When I first knew I wanted to be a designer:
After too many late nights working on Computer Science homework

Favorite tool:
The Web

Favorite design resource:
Attending presentations at design conferences

The one typeface for a deserted island stay:
Gotham

Design-related book I highly recommend:
Shaping Things by Bruce Sterling

Currently reading:
Not enough!

If I weren't a designer, I'd be...
Struggling with a lot more hard to use Web sites

Favorite (non-design) past time:
Mountain biking

Andrew James Kerr

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Born at home on Sunday, March 15th at 5:50 a.m. 10 lbs., 2 oz.
James is the latest reminder that I work to live, not live to work.

Web Design 101: Matching Colors on the Web

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Question: Why don't the colors on my website match the colors of my printed brochure?

Answer: Matching colors from print to web is challenging because of the two different mediums. Colors in print are created by visible light reflecting off the surface of a pigment (ink). Images are produced by either CMYK (a full-color, four-ink process of cyan, magenta, yellow and black) or with spot colors (i.e. Pantone). Images on the web are generated by a light source (computer monitor) combining red, green and blue (RGB) from the visible light spectrum.

The range of colors (or gamut) that can be produced by ink is different than the range of colors that can be produced by a light source. Here's an in-depth explanation for those who crave more technical data.

Adobe Photoshop (Newfangled's web design tool of choice) approximates color matching through its Color Picker. There are several color libraries available through the picker, such as the Pantone Color Matching System (PMS). You can also enter CMYK values as numeric values. Photoshop takes these color values and interpolates them into RGB color for the web (highlighted in yellow below).

In addition to matching colors from print to web, matching colors from monitor to monitor is difficult as well. No two monitors are calibrated exactly alike. One monitor may have a warm, yellow cast while another may have a cool, or blue cast (like the difference in color casts between an incandescent and fluorescent light bulb). These color casts will affect all colors on screen and a particular cast is generally unnoticeable unless you place two monitors side by side for comparison. Most monitors can be calibrated to a baseline using software that came with either the monitor or the computer's operating system.

One World Flag

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Here's an intriguing design challenge: create a flag that would represent global citizenship. The folks at AdBusters have posted the 32 finalists from their One Flag design competition and voting is open until March 17th. My favorite entry is "Origin" if only for its originality and polished execution.

Creative Questionnaire: Dorelle Rabinowitz

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Dorelle Rabinowitz leads the Design Systems group at eBay, creating and maintaining a design system that ensures a holistic customer experience. Previously, she directed user experience design teams at Google and Yahoo!, was an experience lead at SBI.Razorfish and produced Oxygen.com's "Our Stories" site. A graduate of NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, Dorelle also holds a BFA in graphic design from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Current Project:
Creating and extending the design system that is the foundation for user experience (UX) at eBay � standards, patterns and the underlying code base.

First step in my design process:
Figuring out what the problem is by asking questions, doing research, and exploring.

Aspect of design I give the highest priority:
Hard to find one thing that's most important. For me, its a tie between user research � understanding user needs and goals, and prototyping � trying something out, whether it's on paper or interactive.

Method for overcoming creative block:
If possible, getting some sleep. I always come up with ideas after sleeping.

One typical myth about design:
That it's play, not work. Or that we (designers) just make things pretty.

Most challenging aspect about design:
To come up with solutions for our users, and not necessarily ourselves.

Most underrated aspect of design:
Sketching. On paper. Many web designers tend to move right into high-fidelity mocks, and I think we benefit from quickly sketching lots of ideas.

When I first knew I wanted to be a designer:
I was always drawing, and always thought of myself as an artist. In high-school I created some posters for a school event, and got all excited by the typography. After that I pretty much knew this was my thing.

Inspirations:
Films. Art. Books. In particular, right now I love anything from the 50's, like old album covers. I also steal patterns from Greek pottery.

Favorite tool:
A pencil. Tied with stickies.

Favorite design resource:
IAI, IxDA, AIGA. But mostly other designers.

The one typeface for a deserted island stay:
At RISD, you'd get beat down if you used anything other than Univers. But I have a soft spot for Bodoni.

Bookmarks:
Too many to mention, but of course check out Boxes and Arrows, A List Apart, Subtraction. For sheer snark I love Go Fug Yourself. I'm also a big Salon reader.

Design-related book I highly recommend:
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. (He created the comic to announce chrome for Google.) It helped me think about what not to show.

Currently (always) reading:
I always have a few books � and use a Kindle! American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld, The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker, and Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner.

Life lesson:
Well, on 9/11 I watched the towers fall in front of my eyes and decided to live for today. I'm not waiting around for the future.

If I weren't a designer, I'd be...
A therapist. I give good phone � ask any friend.

Favorite (non-design) past time:
Lately I've been blogging a bit � personal stories � not about design at all. Also, I'm big into home design projects - I just "tiled" the fireplace using Inhabit wall flats. It's awesome!

100 Meters of Existence

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I generally dislike horizontal scrolling on the web, but one excellent exception is Simon Hoegsberg's online digital photo, We're All Gonna Die - 100 Meters of Existence. It is literally, a 100-meter-long photograph stitched together from 178 individual portraits shot over the course of 20 days at one location in Berlin.

Attack of the 503 Error!

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I love people with a sense of humor. And it seems the folks at iStockphoto have a rather twisted one. Below is the message you see when a 503 error (service unavailable) is generated from their site. I think all of us could take a cue from the iStockphoto developers and take ourselves a little less seriously.

Six Word Memoir

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Could you sum up your life in six words? The folks at Scott Hull Associates asked some of their artists to give it a shot in their February newsletter. The original exercise is attributed to Ernest Hemingway who wrote, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

I think mine would be, "was blind, but now I see." What's your six word memoir?

Web Development Quality Assurance

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Chris Butler wrote a great post last July about Quality Assurance (QA) in which he outlined the different types of QA Newfangled does and how it's integrated into our web development process.

One of those QA types involves checking for site functionality, browser compliance and content integration after the client has finished entering their content but before the site is sent live. I've executed this type of QA on several sites and thought it might be helpful to share my checklist as well as a couple of tools I use when compiling a QA report.

Typically, I start by clicking through every page and link on the site, taking notes as I find browser anomalies or bugs. I'll describe the problem in a text document and include a URL for the page. Sometimes I'll include an annotated screenshot of the problem (see below). A great tool for this is Skitch (Mac) and Greenshot (Windows). I also use the Web Developer toolbar add-on for Firefox to test javascript, auto-fill forms, view HTML source code, etc.

My QA Checklist is divided into three categories: Critical Functionality, Important Functionality and General Usability. Critical Functionality bugs include things like code errors, non-functioning forms, broken links and cross-browser incompatibility. Important Functionality includes broken page templates, bad page security and blank or missing pages. General Usability issues include poor or missing SEO data, text legibility, inconsistent navigation and so on.

Once the QA report is compiled, I create a PDF that one of our developers will review and address each item in the report. Sometimes a second round of QA is done just to make sure we've shaken out as many bugs as possible from the site before it goes live.

Creative Questionnaire: Andy Mangold

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Andy is a twenty-year-old designer/craftsman/doer of things from West Chester Pennsylvania currently attending the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. He is passionate about riding bikes, climbing trees, wood, good music, and all things design. If he was able to make a living building things out of Legos and making rubber band guns, he would. Andy is also self-employed with Bonsai Studios, designing websites from midnight to 4am daily for nice people that e-mail him. You can read some of Andy's personal thoughts and view his work at andymangold.com.

Current Project:
WordPress-powered blog for a nice man from New Zealand all about t-shirts, a website for a consulting agency focused on non-profit organizations that do good things for people, and of course a million things floating around in my head as always.

First step in my design process:
Research. Design is 100% about communication and one needs to be an expert on the idea, company, product, or movement he or she is going to communicate to the audience.

Usually I will read everything I can get my hands on about whatever project I am working on, then live my life as usual while rolling the idea around my head. I am not the kind of person that can sit down and just decide to design something, at least not something worthwhile. It is only when I am folding laundry, cooking up a mediocre stir fry, or polluting the airwaves with my Martin knockoff that I will think of something worth pursuing.

Aspect of design I give the highest priority:
Simplicity

Method for overcoming creative block:
Exercise. A nice bike ride or romp on the soccer field can do wonders when I am feeling bogged down and uncreative.

One typical myth about design:
That it needs to be done on a computer

Most challenging aspect about design:
Finding someone to pay you for working on the things that you think matter

Most underrated aspect of design:
It's functionality and tangibility. Too many people have the perception that design is purely visual: they have no problem recognizing that the label on a bottle of Tide is design, but try explaining how a stool or a wrench is a beautiful (or terrible) piece of design and you've lost them. The term is almost infinitely broad, and to me that is why it is so powerful.

When I first knew I wanted to be a designer:
I had the idea all through High School that I wanted to be a designer, but when I got to college the sheer number of people in the major for what I consider to be all the wrong reasons made me question my choice intensely. Despite my attraction to other fields of study, I realized that calling myself anything else would only be limiting.

As I have said, design is about communication, and ultimately ideas. If the idea I am trying to express is going to be most powerful as a poster or a website then I will make a poster or a website. If the idea is going to be most powerful as a 47-foot found object sculpture then I'm off to the junkyard.

Inspirations:
Stefan Sagmeister, Stephen Doyle, Nam Jun Paik, Survival Research Labs, Fluxus, Odilon Redon, John Von Slatt, Marcel Duchamp, Theo Jansen

Favorite tool:
Manual hand drill passed down from my grandfather

Favorite design resource:
The city of Baltimore, with its rich personality and beautiful vestiges of signs and murals from yesteryear

The one typeface for a deserted island stay:
The capital "Q" in Wingdings would come in handy...

Bookmarks:
upsidedowndogs.com, fixedgeargallery.com, blog.makezine.com

Design-related book I highly recommend:
Things I have Learned in My Life So Far by Stefan Sagmeister

Currently (always) reading:
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes

Life lesson:
Don't take yourself too seriously.

If I weren't a designer, I'd be...
A carpenter, a bike courier, a struggling musician, a luthier, an engineer, or a mechanic

Favorite (non-design) past time:
Sleeping

Resource of the Month: Newfangled's Website Profile

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Normally, I look outside of Newfangled for RotM candidates, but this month I want to shine a light on one of our web development tools: the Website Profile. This brief questionnaire is given to the client early in the development process and is valuable to us in several ways:

1) It helps us collect information and materials regarding the client's branding (logo files, style guides, imagery).

2) In conjunction with the prototype, the client's responses on the form help us combine their site's structure, content and design into a meaningful whole. The Profile also shows our clients we believe that design is not just window dressing for their site but an integral component.

3) It helps the client carefully consider their website in light of who they are and what they do (who is your audience? who is your competition? what is your organization's personality?)

If you're interested in how the Website Profile fits into the rest of our development process, check out our Project Anatomy.

Graceful Degradation vs. Progressive Enhancement

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Great article by Aaron Gustafson about one of the hot-button issues regarding browser compliance and web standards: graceful degradation.

Church 2.0

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

When you think of church, "cutting edge," "relevant," or even "cool" probably don't come to mind. Lifechurch.tv has incorporated the best of what the web has to offer�social networking, compelling content and thoughtful design�and created a virtual church. Lifechurch.tv is a multi-campus church that is networked via satellite. Their physical locations include Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Tennessee and New York, but the best feature is their Internet Campus that reaches the rest of the globe.

The Internet Campus serves up live weekly teachings from senior pastor Craig Groeschel (viewers can Twitter each other during the message), or you can subscribe to previous teachings via iTunes. There's a blog that's updated daily (with RSS and e-mail subscriptions) and an multi-language Bible called YouVersion that allows members to add commentary, links, images or videos to any piece of Bible text.

Lifechurch.tv has a presence on YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and even a location in Second Life, the 3-D virtual world. There are also LifeGroups, small groups of people who meet regularly in order to make a difference in the community, develop friendships with each other, and challenge each other. Lifechurch.tv offers two ways to join a LifeGroup: locate a face-to-face group near you or join an online group through the site or on Facebook.

Lifechurch.tv has also done a decent job with SEO. They show up in the top ten if you Google "online church."

Creative Questionnaire: Liz Dubois

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Liz Goulet Dubois graduated in 1989 from the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in illustration. She was instrumental in developing the Club Earth line of nature-themed toys, and still contributes to that line which is now under new ownership. She also helped develop the popular FRED line of housewares, and currently contributes to the line as Senior Designer. Liz's products have been featured on The Today Show and HGTV, and in Oprah, People, Family Fun and Good Housekeeping magazines. In addition to product design, Liz writes and illustrates for children. Clients include Golden Books, Houghton Mifflin, Simon and Schuster, and Scholastic. Her most recent book is called, "What Kind of Rabbit Are You?" published by Little Simon in 2008.

Current Project:
Never just one! I am in the midst of illustrating three different features for Highlights Magazine, I just received a 32-page picture book from Scholastic to illustrate, and I am constantly working on the next line of products for the FRED company. Independently, I am working on new designs for licensing, and a few new picture book ideas (when I can find the time).

First step in my design process:
Sit down with a pencil and a tracing paper pad, and get as far out of "the box" as possible.

Aspect of design I give the highest priority:
Originality

Method for overcoming creative block:
Organization. I find that if the rest of my life is organized, it frees me up to think about illustration or products.

One typical myth about design:
That it's easy!

Most challenging aspect about design:
Trying to come up with things that haven't been done � or at least to do things in a completely new way.

Most underrated aspect of design:
Connecting with the audience. Any product or illustration or writing needs to make a connection with its audience quickly, or else they lose interest.

When I first knew I wanted to be a designer:
Literally, by age six or so. I was already interested then in making my own toys, and packaging them as well.

Inspirations:
Vintage art from the 1920s-1970s, Disney, Rankin-Bass, Dr. Seuss, Tasha Tudor, Holly Hobbie.

Favorite tool:
Prismacolor 90% Cool Grey colored pencil. Essential!

Favorite design resource:
Vintage children's books

The one typeface for a deserted island stay:
Any BOLD type, I guess, in case I lost my glasses overboard.

Bookmarks:
etsy.com, notcot.com, www.fredandfriends.wordpress.com

Design-related book I highly recommend:
The Elements of Pop-Up, by David A. Carter

Currently reading:
Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell

Life lesson:
Don't get in your own way.

If I weren't a designer, I'd be...
An archaeologist

Favorite (non-design) past time:
Gardening

Resource of the Month: Masterfile's Endless Media

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I spend a lot of time on stock photo sites and have logged hundreds of hours searching for that "perfect image" to adorn one of our websites. There have been many advancements in online stock searching over the years: search filters that allow you to refine results by composition, color, style, image technique and keywords; light boxes for organizing and saving your searches; image tagging and inline thumbnail enlargement just to name a few. But most stock sites seem to "borrow" new search features from each other; providing none of them with any real advantage. Until now, perhaps.

I've been playing with Masterfile's new proprietary search tool named Endless Media and it is a significant improvement over its competitors' offerings. Masterfile has rethought image searching from the ground up rather than simply adding new features to an existing engine.

Strengths
The first thing you'll notice is that search results are displayed in a horizontal strip and advancing to the next "screen" of results is as simple as clicking the arrow button in the navigation strip above the results. It's wicked fast and beats waiting for a new page of results to load in the browser window.

Clicking on a thumbnail places it in a large preview window to the left and maintains the search results to the right so you can continue scrolling through them. The preview area displays licensing and model release information as well as tools for adding the image to a light box, downloading a comp or adding it to a shopping cart.

Masterfile has also brought searching for similar images up to the same level as your initial search and displays them in a smaller horizontal strip (dubbed Sim Search) beneath your search results. Clicking on any image in Sim Search will move it to the preview area and will adjust the main search results accordingly.

Once you've registered with the site you have access to large, watermark-free comps. This is useful for designers like me who do a lot of image manipulation and don't want to be stuck purchasing images that will ultimately not make it past the first client review.

Weaknesses
While the Sim Search is a great user interface component, it suffers a bit in usability. The demo video states the Sim Search results are based on a similar look and feel to the image currently in the preview pane. But "look and feel" is a broad category that could be divided into composition, color, lighting or theme. The Sim Search would be a more useful tool if you could filter the results.

The preview pane displays some tools below the image but only provides icons with descriptive tags that appear on mouse over. There is enough real estate to display words instead of cryptic symbols (this is a clear violation of the "Don't Make Me Think" principle).

Even though Endless Media allows you to work with multiple light boxes simultaneously the light box feature is nothing new to stock sites. This feature would be even better if you could add a new light box on the fly rather than clicking away to another page.

These few weaknesses aside, I really like the Endless Media tool and plan on spending some serious time taking it through the paces with some client projects.

Resource of the Month: 960 Grid System

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

A year ago I posted a link to a webinar on grid systems presented by Mark Boulton and Khoi Vinh. It explained the practicality of grids in web design and how they can tame content-rich sites.

December's RotM is Nathan Smith's 960 Grid System website. You can download 12 and 16-column templates (based on a 960 pixel-wide grid) for several image and web applications, as well as a CSS framework with HTML demo. The site also displays some example sites (with grid overlays) built using the templates.

If you want to play with an online grid builder based on the same 960px width, try gridr buildrrr. It lets you try out different column configurations as well as some draggable box elements.

Web Design 101: Jagged Text

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Question: Why does the text on my site look rough or jagged?

Answer: Any editable text on a web page (you can highlight it with your cursor) is HTML text. HTML text is generated by your web browser and displayed with uniformly-colored pixels, so any line or edge that is not 90 degrees is built with a stair-step pattern or "jagged" edge (as if it had been built with Legos).

HTML text is rendered differently depending on the browser and the operating system (see browser examples below). On the Mac, and in some Windows browsers, text renders cleanly because the browser applies a smoothing technique called anti-aliasing to the letter forms, eliminating the jagged edges.

It would be great if all browsers applied anti-aliasing to text so there wouldn't be ugly web type (some day, maybe). One way to eliminate some of the jagged edges is to avoid using italicized type, but this also eliminates one method of text styling and makes it more difficult to subtly distinguish one piece of content from another.

Creative Questionnaire: Monika Kim

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Monika Kim was a classmate of mine at RISD and, after reconnecting via LinkedIn, I asked her to participate in the Creative Questionnaire series. Since graduating with a BFA in graphic design, Monika has gone on to work for companies such as M & Co., Donna Karan, Banana Republic and Kenneth Cole. In 2002, she opened her own studio where she continues to implement her "less is more" philosophy in brand development and design.

Current Project:
Holiday '09 for Target

First step in my design process:
Grasp the main message the client wants to get across.

Aspect of design I give the highest priority:
Clarity

Method for overcoming creative block:
Do something totally different. Shop the internet, watch TV, stare into space.

One typical myth about design:
Anyone can pick it up

Most challenging aspect about design:
Coming up with new ideas

Most underrated aspect of design:
We NEED it. Good design makes people feel better.

When I first knew I wanted to be a designer:
I'm still trying to figure that out.

Inspirations:
The 70s, sculpture, album covers, Swiss design, Saul Bass

Favorite tool:
The delete button

Favorite design resource:
The 70s

The one typeface for a deserted island stay:
One of those fancy, curly script faces like Snell Roundhand or Shelley Script

Bookmarks:
swissmiss, thecoolhunter.net

Design-related book I highly recommend:
1000 Record Covers by Michael Ochs

Currently reading:
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It's really long.

Life lesson:
I can make anything happen if I get out of my own way.

If I weren't a designer, I'd be...
A sculptor

Favorite (non-design) past time:
Dancing

Graffiti: Art, Vandalism or Commerce?

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Interesting article in the Times Online about Banksy, an (in)famous graffiti artist whose street art has appeared on walls around the world. The debate is a familiar one: is graffiti art or vandalism?

When I was at RISD, Sheppard Fairey was already famous for his ubiquitous stickers, "Andre the Giant has a posse" that were on plastered on every public surface you can imagine. Nowadays, Sheppard is a highly successful commercial artist, his most recent work includes Barack Obama's "Hope" campaign poster. Here in Providence, three graffiti artists, Seaz, Juner and Lead, were commissioned to paint a mural for Temple, a restaurant inside of one our four-diamond hotels.

So, is graffiti art (an expression of the human soul, socio-political commentary), vandalism (littering on someone else's property) or commerce (payment for services rendered)?

Sparklines: Intense, Simple Word-sized Graphics

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Back in September, I attended a workshop by Edward Tufte entitled, "Presenting Data and Information." Professor Tufte's contributions to the field of information design are well known within the design community and his workshop covered material from all four of his books.

Aside from Tufte's purple hatred of PowerPoint, the most intriguing component of the workshop was his lecture on sparklines. These thumbnail-sized graphs are simple in form but contain an enormous amount of data. Using sparklines, a wide range of data points can be scanned and digested quickly; and they are much more efficient in their use of page real estate than tables of numbers.

An excerpt from Professor Tufte's chapter on sparklines in his most recent book, "Beautiful Evidence" is available on his website. Don't be indimidated by the length of the web page, only 15% of it is content from the book, the remainder is posted comments and sparkline examples.

Creative Questionnaire: Eric Karjaluoto

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Eric Karjaluoto is the creative director at smashLAB and the founder of MakeFive. As impressive as that sounds, he's still willing to do whatever it takes to get things done � whether it's building comps or taking out the trash. Eric received his diploma in painting from the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver, British Columbia. You can read his thoughts on design at erickarjaluoto.com.

Current Project:
Most of my time these days is centered on our website MakeFive. It's a social network that allows people to make top five lists on everything and anything. The bulk of my time goes into improving the user experience on the site. Sometimes this means revising user-interface elements to be more intuitive; at other times it involves "social engineering" or ensuring that site activity is in the best interest of all users.

First step in my design process:
With all of our clients, we run through a consistent process that begins with thorough research in order to gain insight and understanding, from which we generate a clear plan of where we want to go. This works really well for our clients, and as a result we don't deviate from it.

Aspect of design I give the highest priority:
Whether the solution works or not. As a young designer I was overly concerned with creating smart or original design. Now I just want people to use the stuff we make and "get it" right away.

Method for overcoming creative block:
In my mind there's really one answer to this, and it is to just keep working. By doing so I find that I don't so much hope for a magic solution to fall in my lap, and instead I concentrate on just getting the job done. Doing so seems to "normalize" my work and allows me to keep going instead of getting stuck in a cycle of self-doubt.

One typical myth about web design:
I think this whole desire to be "cutting edge" is a hurdle for many web designers. It's really easy to get caught up in doing something "new and exciting" even when it's not really necessary. We have to stop thinking about websites as gadget belts; instead we should aspire to design things that are as beautifully simple as knives and forks. Few people are excited about their cutlery, but most use it every day. This isn't a contest of how "cool" it can be, but rather an issue of how transparent our design solutions can become.

Most challenging aspect about web design:
It all depends on the project, but lately I've really been struggling with the amount of information that needs to have prominence in more application-like websites. On a site like MakeFive, there are all kinds of really important things that we need to make easy for the user to access. Creating a topic, accessing email, checking their standing in the community... all of these need to be easy to find, but you can only "turn the volume up" on a certain number of them before it becomes overly noisy.

Figuring out how to make it work as you'd like is one thing; making this clear to users is quite another. At the same time, you really have to remain responsive to the possibility that people will use your stuff in ways you hadn't anticipated.

Most underrated aspect of web design:
I talk to a lot of young designers these days who want to go back to print-based design because of the amount of control they gain. The thing they don't understand is the amazing reach of web-based work, and how it wasn't always this way. When I started at art school, the tools just weren't as readily available as they are now. As a result, you were pretty much doomed to work on a local level unless you by chance reached some level of notoriety.

Today, however, anyone can connect with the community at large if they do something great. That little loss of control over the end product is, in my mind, an easy price to pay in order to gain the possibility of reaching so many. Plus, it affords so many new opportunities. User-generated content is particularly interesting, as you get to watch people do things that you've helped facilitate.

When I first knew I wanted to be a designer:
I think I was about two or three at the time. My Mom and a couple of other neighborhood moms were in our front yard writing their kids' names on their toys as the kids were often mixing-up which toys were whose. This made me absolutely furious. It just drove me crazy that they were ruining these objects by writing on them.

Inspirations:
I like music and appreciate how it puts me into a state where I can work better. Additionally, I'm really excited to just get exposed to people with ideas. Lately I've found myself hooked on TED Talks. It's just great to be around new ideas, no matter how different they are from mine. (Actually, sometimes it's better if I don't really understand the realm these people work in as it forces me to think differently.)

Favorite tool:
That's easy: a pencil or pen. It's easy to be lured by software, but I think it puts too many layers between you and your work. I'm fast - and I mean fast - with all of the standard applications (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), but I can still get ideas down better with a drawing tool of some sort. I guess I'm old school.

Favorite design resource:
Observation. The best design resources are found in people who are pissed off because they are stuck in voice mail hell; people left scratching their heads to make a cryptic parking payment system work; or someone who wants to pay their cable bill, but can't find the log in information on the website. I just look for what doesn't work, and why. It's simple, and probably boring, but it works.

The one typeface for a deserted island stay:
Anything by Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones. Those guys absolutely rock my design world. Their families are so comprehensive that they make any designer look better. Sort of like playing a guitar--even the worst players sound pretty good with a Marshall stack behind them. That's my big advice to bad designers: buy stuff from Hoefler & Frere-Jones. It will be your Marshall stack. No one will know that you suck.

Bookmarks:
That's a looooong list. Let's start with these:
� TechCrunch, Wired, Paul Graham's essays and Seth's blog

Design-related book I highly recommend:
"Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads" by Luke Sullivan. His observations are spot-on and he's a damned funny writer.

Currently reading:
"The End of Poverty" by Jeffrey D. Sachs. It's completely out of my realm of experience, which makes it interesting; additionally, it's written in a fashion that even a guy like me can understand it.

Life lesson:
Do what you love and it will never feel like work.

Favorite (non-design) past time:
Going out for interesting dinners with my lovely wife Amea and our wild little boy, "Ozzy."

Better Form Design

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Afshan Kirmani has posted the first a two-part article on how to design better online forms. You can read the full article on Boxes and Arrows in which Afshan uses the example of signing up for a web-based e-mail account to highlight the components of a successful form:

Affordance - clear entry points for the applicant, addressing security issues, consistent design between website and form, a brief overview of the form's requirements and the ability to save form content and continue later

Orientation - clear form titles, progress indicators and progress feedback (especially on longer forms)

Chunking - logically grouping and labeling related parts of a form to promote readability and ease content digestion as well as breaking longer forms onto separate pages

Forget the Film, Watch the Titles

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

One of my favorite pastimes is watching movies. While sitting through gems and dogs alike, I've made my wife's eyes roll more than once by trying to identify the typeface or pointing out horrible letter spacing in the opening titles.

Most people don't pay any attention to a movie's opening titles but some of them are better designed and more striking than the film that follows. A title sequence is a film's first impression and a successful sequence sets the story's mood with a mix of type, images and design elements.

Submarine Channel devotes a section of its site to the art of title sequences, breaking them down into categories such as animation, motion graphics, mixed media and 3D. Designer credit and background information accompany each video clip. Check out Iginio Lardani's cutting edge (for 1966, anyway) opening sequence from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" or the cut-and-paste kitsch of Karin Fong's "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio."

Creative Questionnaire: Sixten Abbot

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Sixten Abbot is the Art Director (as well as a photographer and copywriter) at Sullivan & Co., a communications and marketing firm in Providence, Rhode Island. Sixten, which means "victory stone" in Swedish, told me his parents named him after one of the tragic main characters in the 1967 film "Elvira Madigan." When he's not spending his free time as a semi-professional band photographer, you'll find Sixten piloting his kayak through the icy winter waters of New England.

Current Project:
I wish I had the luxury of working on just one thing! At the moment, I'm trying to wrap up a moderately sized site with a custom flash piece, just starting a national logo redesign, doing some writing for a local energy company's brochure� and there's always other little things: retouching, color correction� the list goes on!

First step in my design process:
I guess it depends on a lot of things: first, what you consider the "first step" � naturally, you try to gather as much information as possible. In addition to the client, there's the competition, the audience. These days, people seem to want to design for everyone � but that's as successful as "design by committee," i.e., not at all. Even if the audience is broad, they have things in common. The best thing is if you can make a connection to an individual that you know, and design for them. Not their individual taste, per se, but as a gut check. As much as the industry would like to deny it, this is an art as much as a science. Trust your instincts.

Aspect of design I give the highest priority:
Usability, usability, usability. A close second would be suitability � is it appropriate?

Method for overcoming creative block:
Do something. It won't be good, but just get started, like automatic writing. Nobody keeps track of your bad ideas, so don't be afraid to get them out. Because the good ideas are always just beyond them, on the other side.

One typical myth about web design:
800x600. Seriously. Windows' default resolution, on a 15" monitor, has been 1024x768 for years. With browser chrome (you know, tool bars and stuff, not Google's Chrome browser � how confusing is that?), the "above the fold" measurement is somewhere around 900x500, depending.

Most challenging aspect about web design:
Microsoft. Couldn't be happy with the W3C's standards, they had to invent their own.

Most underrated aspect of web design:
The flexibility necessary to account for vastly different amounts of content. In a printed piece, there are ways to work around things like product groupings that vary; you can run them in, smoosh them together� You can't really do that online. It requires more forethought, and sometimes there isn't time for that, so it's conceivable that even a "well-designed" site can have a really ugly page when all is said and done. That should never be true for a printed piece. So despite its flexibility, the web is really quite unforgiving.

When I first knew I wanted to be a designer:
Heh. I hate to cop to it, but honestly � it was when I realized I wasn't going to be an illustrator. Freshman year at RISD. It was an easy decision, when you're surrounded by that many talented illustrators � I decided it was better to try to be good at something that I had less experience with than to try to get better at something I was only moderately good at.

Inspirations:
John Maeda, Laurie Anderson, Joshua Davis, Colin Moock, Yugo Nakamura, Tobias Frere-Jones, Richard Feynman, John Williams Waterhouse, Benjamin Franklin.

Oh, visually? Anything I can get my hands on. I think a lot of us are still looking at echoing analog processes, somehow. There's an unknown quality in the result which I think resonates with the human spirit. It's part of what makes some design "warm" and others "cold." The more analog, the more error-prone the process, the more we recognize the human hand behind it. Do I sound like a Luddite?

Favorite tool:
It's stereotypical, but � Photoshop. Especially ironic in light of the above, but fifteen years with something's hard to let go of, you know? And analog processes require so much infrastructure. And, if I may be allowed to stray from the strictly "design" tools here, two cameras: my Holga S and my Pentax k20d. Although if there's anything I'm looking forward to, it's RED's forecast DSLR.

Favorite design resource:
Gotta be Communication Arts; they set the standard.

The one typeface for a deserted island stay:
Hoefler & Frere-Jones' Requiem family. Gorgeous and quite extensive. Second choice would have to be Helvetica Neue � it never ends.

Bookmarks:
Hmm. I've actually stopped using them because I bookmarked too much, too quickly. But sites I hit often: boingboing, wired, pharyngula, slashdot, Giant in the Playground.

Design-related book I highly recommend:
It's probably too much of a given, but: Bringhurst's "Elements of Typographic Style." Or Eric Gill's, "An Essay on Typography." I know, I know � I'm a product of my education. And I have to admit, I haven't read a book on design (or directly related to design) too recently. What can I say? My tastes are too broad for me to spend my time away from the office reading about stuff that's directly related to what I do in the office.

Currently reading:
Like my current projects, there are just too many of these to list them all. I recently finished Naomi Klein's, "The Shock Doctrine." Not for the neoconservative at heart. Also, lest you think me too intellectual, I also just finished (for the first time) Orson Scott Card's, "Ender's Game" and "Xenocide."

Life lesson:
It doesn't matter what the salary is � the people you work with are the most important thing. No amount of money can make up for misery.

If I weren't a designer, I'd be...
It's the same answer I gave over thirty years ago: when I grow up, I want to be an artist or a scientist. I guess design sort of splits the difference.

Resource of the Month: Sketch!

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I spent the weekend cleaning out my basement office and going through some old work from my days as a print designer. I'm surprised at how much sketching I used to do. Thumbnail sketches, doodles, marker renderings. Sure, there were computers available at the time but most of my ideas started as sketches and then scanned or recreated on computer to be developed and polished. Now, it seems I spend my time staring at a blank Photoshop canvas waiting for inspiration to leap from my head to the screen.

The computer (and the internet) has become such a ubiquitous source for generating ideas that we've forgotten what a useful tool sketching is, especially for quickly communicating good ideas (and eliminating bad ones). Even many "traditional" artists have abandoned pen and paper for drawing tablets and ultra-sensitive stylus pens. But there's something very rewarding about the tactile nature of pencil to paper; crafting ideas with hand tools versus arranging pixels with a stylus, keyboard or mouse.

Perhaps I've been influenced by the fact I recently finished Scott McCloud's ode to the marriage of ideas and art, Understanding Comics (I'm currently reading his sequel, Reinventing Comics). Or maybe I'm overwhelmed by the nostalgia of rummaging through my old work. Or perhaps it's just envy � thinking of the designers I know who haven't abandoned the sketch book in spite of working 8+ hours a day on a computer. Whatever the reason, I intend to reach for my pencil and sketchbook more often.

Vindication!

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I now know that all those times I got in trouble as a kid for drawing on the walls were not in vain. A 53-old Lexington, Kentucky man invested $10 in Sharpie markers and turned his basement walls into a black and white masterpiece. Bravo.

National Archives Digital Vaults

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

If you're willing to lose yourself for a few hours and explore some seldom seen historical documents then check out the National Archives' Digital Vaults. The site employs a tag-based interface to connect photos, letters, government documents and cultural artifacts all by topic.

Examining a photo of the infamous Zapruder camera linked me to photographs of Lincoln assassination conspirators, a Jello box used as evidence in the 1951 Rosenberg spy trial, an image of the Kennedy Space Center taken from an orbiting space shuttle, and a photo of Deng Xiaoping's visit with President Carter in 1979.

Digital Vaults is a good example of non-traditional navigation and a 100% flash-based site that works because of its nature. If I wanted to do serious research using material from the National Archives, I would expect a site organized more like Wikipedia. But Digital Vaults is like a museum that allows you to wander from gallery to gallery and make unexpected discoveries.

Creative Questionnaire: Andy Rutledge

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Andy Rutledge is Principal and chief design strategist for Unit Interactive. When he's not designing or hanging with the family, you can find him putting in a few miles on the bike, banging on the piano, or playing with his bonsai collection. Andy also writes about design culture, professionalism, and technique on his website Design View.

Job Description:
Primarily, I�m a cog in our agency machine with regard to idea generation, client discovery, planning, design & IA, and front-end development. My other primary roles include pre-bid client discussions, client/project vetting, crafting contracts, billing, and project management. I work both directly with clients and in supporting roles for some projects assigned to others in the office. Project-related issues aside, I work with my partner in day to day and long-term maintenance of our agency standards and operation.

Oh, and I dominate in office mini-basketball.

Current Project:
Like the rest of the team, I�m typically working on more than one project at a time. One current project I�m excited about (that I can actually talk about) is Publish2. It�s a web-native news wire and collaborative newsroom for newspapers and journalists. The identity and overall design have long been completed, but the project is rather large and requires some ongoing layout and user-experience design work. It�s released in public beta now (for journalists) but the public side is still sporting the temporary main page. Anyway, there�s not much for non-journalists to see now, but it�s an exciting and consequential project to work on, nonetheless.

First step in my design process:
My initial design steps include exhaustive discovery with clients and, when possible, end-users of the client�s site/app/product/service in order to gain a thorough understanding of the client�s aims, needs, desires, challenges, and plans (from a brand, business, and personal standpoint), as well as similar issues for the client�s end-users or customers.

Aspect of design I give the highest priority:
User experience, balanced with brand/client requirements. Nothing can be given �highest priority� without a reference to how that balances with something else.

Method for overcoming creative block:
Strenuous physical activity, either in the office (playing games!) or coupled with a change of environment or scenery. Lots of oxygenated blood to the brain can do wonders for all sorts of common mental maladies.

One typical myth about web design:
That it�s the same as print design, just published online.

Most challenging aspect about web design:
Balance: balancing the many contexts that impact every aspect of the project (platform issues, cross-browser compatibility issues, usability issues, accessibility issues, progressive enhancement issues, client-side technology issues (scripting, etc�), information hierarchy, content hierarchy, user intent, user preference, user savviness, brand requirements, client desires, agency-client comfort and confidence, etc..)

Most underrated aspect of web design:
The fact that competent web designers can dictate or strongly impact behaviors, mood, attention, and actions of users simply by way of thoughtful design.

When I first knew I wanted to be a designer:
I knew I wanted to be a web designer in 2001 (when I got my first computer), when I discovered that all the things I�d been interested in doing in other aspects of my life were articulations of design�and in web design I�d get to play with the graphic and technical side of it all. Crafting communication is what we human beings spend nearly all of our waking hours doing, anyway. I just do it for a living.

Inspirations:
Anything compelling.

Favorite tool:
A black ink Uniball pen.

Favorite design resource:
Nature.

The one typeface for a deserted island stay:
Trade Gothic

Bookmarks:
Too many to list. I visit more than 70 websites every morning before I start work. Notables would certainly include A List Apart and Adaptive Path.

Design-related book I highly recommend:
�Universal Principles of Design,� by Lidwell, Holden, and Butler. After one gains a grasp of the value and utility of line, form, texture, color, balance, distribution, and contrast, this book provides a glimpse of the further foundation every designer needs.

Currently reading:
�Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America�s Schools Back to Reality,� by Charles Murray

Life lesson:
Do what you know you are meant to do, no matter what that is. Life is too short to do anything else.

If I weren't a designer, I'd be...
Hard to say. Likely I�d be a composer or a bonsai artist.

Favorite (non-design) past time:
Cycling. I spend inordinate hours pedaling toward exhaustion each week.

The Google Chrome Comic

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Google continues to impress me. Not just with their web applications but with their documentation as well.

I recently read about the development history and philosophy behind Google's new web browser, Chrome. But it wasn't any sleep-inducing white paper filled with techno-speak (my apologies to those who love reading white papers). It was a 37-page graphic novel by comic book artist Scott McCloud (his 1993 book, "Understanding Comics" is a great analysis of the medium). Scott's clean, demonstrative style allowed me to understand complex concepts (such as multi-process architecture) and helped me appreciate all the hard work that goes into developing an application.

I can't wait for "Chrome" the movie.

It's All About The Awards

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

A friend of mine loves to play Unreal Tournament, one of those multiple-player-first-person-kill-everything-in-sight-with-extreme-prejudice online games. For him, it's all about the most kills in a row, most kills in one shot, and finding a good sniper position. In his words, "it's all about the awards."

I finished design school in 1990 and, during the next ten years as a print designer, I was enamored with all the awards and the resulting design annuals that populated the shelves where I worked. I spent hours pouring over Communication Arts and Print magazine looking for inspiration to finish a logo design or print ad. I'd see the same names every year on the awards list and, year after year, mine was not among them. After a while I became disillusioned and stopped answering the call for entries.

Now I'll occasionally troll the "site of the week" or "40 best web designs" sites, but I've found most of the featured sites to be self-published portfolios, blogs or flash-only micro sites for high-end organizations. And it seems web design awards follow a similar route: all-flash sites with mystery meat navigation and very little compelling content. Mark Boulton, a designer across the pond in Wales, has a similar lament. I've witnessed the high-gloss fad of "web 2.0" give way to grunge design and deconstructivism. And, due to the social nature of the web, site content is now being given awards (digg, technorati, StumbleUpon).

As I've spent more time as a blue-collar designer I've come to understand that awards are nice, but it's only a pat on the head from your peers (yes, I've won a couple of awards). The real rewards of design are meeting a big challenge head-on, exceeding the client's expectations (as well as your own perceived limitations) and getting paid for a job well done.

I once received a client e-mail that read, "I love my new site! You guys are f***ing awesome!" You won't find that quote on Newfangled's testimonials page, but I'll take it over a Webby any day. Along with a paycheck.

Wayfinding: Axel Peemeller

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I came across this award-winning wayfinding device while trolling my RSS feeds. Axel Peemeller is a German designer whose signage system for an Melbourne, Australia carpark is so ingenious yet so obvious you'll be scratching your head and asking, "why didn't I think of that?" Check out all the photos.

In a world...

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Don LaFontaine passed away this weekend. If you don't recognize the name, you'll probably recognize the voice. Don was the voice for over 4,000 movie trailers dating back to the 60's. You'll be missed, Don.

Creative Questionnaire: Suzie Im

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Suzie Im is a Senior Web Art Director at Cadence Design Systems in San Jose, CA. She describes herself as an information/visual design problem solver with a high degree of design skill, innovative spirit, and business responsiveness. Suzie is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where she received a BS in Graphic Design.

Job Description:
I collaborate closely with web developers, internal clients, and external agencies to drive concept development and design execution for the visual design of web properties, online campaign deliverables, and online direct mail offers.

Current Project:
Cadence.com went live on July 13th. It is the culmination of a huge volume of work, going back more than 18 months, which began with planning and defining a new architecture and design for the site. Cadence.com uses new web technologies that enable users to interact with the company and their peers in a more involved community-oriented manner, rather than just passively consuming content. Users can converse with each other and with Cadence in a more conversational way, sharing and learning from the collective participation. This helps us better understand our customers' needs and develop solutions more quickly. Since going live, the site has received positive coverage from several sources including: Web Strategist, PL Design Line, as well as Newfangled.

First step in my design process:
I first run design concepts/ideas through my head then surf the web to gather more ideas, then search through stock photography sites such as Getty Images to develop concepts. I usually do a rough sketch only if I get completely stuck. Coming up with many options is the key for my design process.

Aspect of design I give the highest priority:
Design consistency, visual hierarchy, having a clear design theme.

Method for overcoming creative block:
Caffeine � cannot live without.

One typical myth about web design:
I still get really frustrated with this statement but sadly, it's true. "If I have a copy of Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Frontpage, I'm a web designer."

Most challenging aspect about web design:
You need to have a full understanding of business objectives and translate that into a visual system that is user-friendly, brand compliant, clean, innovative, unique, beautiful, and functional. It's challenging to do all of these well but, if you tackle all of the above, you will be proud of what you did!

Most underrated aspect of web design:
I think web design in general is underrated because people think if they know simple HTML code and have copy of Photoshop they know how to do web design.

When I first knew I wanted to be a designer:
When I started getting A's in all my design projects in college. :)

Inspirations:
Everything I see is my design inspiration � from billboard signs to TV commercials. I always ask myself these questions: how would I do it differently? do I like that color, motion-effect, treatment? If you train your eyes to see things from your own design perspective, it's a lot more fun and inspiring.

Favorite tool:
Firebug, IE Developer's tool. These are the coolest tools ever!

Favorite design resource:
Surfing the web. There is nothing better than getting design ideas/resources from web. I also speak Korean so it's interesting to browse through what the other side of the world is doing with their online space.

Bookmarks:
www.lipsum.com, www.webguild.org

Design-related book I highly recommend:
I used to buy all kinds of design related books and magazines, but I stopped. Nowadays, I usually find design related topics through blogs and forums. I recently read this article on web usability which was quite amusing and interesting.

Currently reading:
Pretty embarrassing to say but the last book I read was The DaVinci Code. I've been just swamped with work. Yeah� it's an excuse.

Life lesson:
Overcome and learn from your own mistakes.

If I weren't a designer, I'd be...
a pianist

Favorite (non-design) past time:
Playing with my two dogs. Sleeping�

Design Guidelines for Agencies, Part 4: Preparing Website Designs for Production

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

At Newfangled, we refer to the process of applying the design of a site to its structure as "skinning." Not horribly original but an accurate description. Preparing Photoshop files for "skinning" is an important step in web development and they should be organized in such a way that any developer or programmer can understand and work with them. It may require investing a bit of time to properly prep design files but it will ultimately save production time and can result in cost savings for your client.

Photoshop Documents
First of all, create separate Photoshop Document (PSD) files for the home page and sub pages. As efficient as it may seem to use one PSD for all your page layouts it's actually easier to work with small, multiple PSD files, each containing a single template. This method also reduces the chance that something will be missed during the skinning process. To keep the total number of PSD files small, represent the entire site with a home page layout and a handful of sub page templates. Simpler is better.

If you want to score extra points with your web developer, create a "style guide" PSD that provides some Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) specs for the site's content. CSS defines a website's common page components such as the font size and style for body copy, page headers, sub heads, etc. Download a sample PSD file (1.7MB)

Optimizing Photoshop Layers
In each PSD, layers and layer folders should be well organized and labeled. Don't make the developer guess what "layer 56" contains; provide useful descriptions like "main nav over state." Use layer folders to group related layers together and delete any unused layers or layer styles to reduce clutter and shrink the PSD file size.

To highlight layers that have special functionality, assign them a color. For example, if you've created an "over state" layer for a navigation graphic, assign it a color and leave the layer in the "off" state (by clicking on the eye icon next to the layer). To assign a color, right-click (or control-click) on the layer to bring up the layer features menu. Select "Layer Properties�" and in the resulting dialogue box choose a color from the pull down menu. You can assign colors to layer folders as well (the color highlight will be applied to all the layers in the folder).

Another useful tool for highlighting special features in your designs is Photoshop's Notes Tool. You'll find it in the tool palette (it looks like a small sticky note). Place these notes anywhere in your layout; they show up as small yellow icons that you can double-click to edit. Keep the text of these notes brief; any complex instructions for your developer should be stated in an e-mail that can be printed out for reference.

"Working" Files vs. "Skinning" Files
I keep two copies of each PSD when I'm preparing files for production: a "working" copy with all the artwork and text as separate, non-flattened layers; and a "skinning" copy that is optimized for the developer.

Working files are useful for making edits later when the client wants to change a background graphic or update the main navigation bar. All your graphic text (with custom fonts) and multiple-layer artwork will be intact and easy to change.

Skinning files are the PSDs that you will give to your developer. Graphic text should be rasterized as artwork to eliminate the need for custom fonts during the skinning process. Text that will be generated as HTML should be retained as a text layer with anti-aliasing disabled. And complex graphics should be flattened to keep the PSD file simple and small in size. Download a sample PSD file (2.2MB)

These are some basic organization and optimization tips. As you work with more and more PSD files, you'll discover additional methods for reducing production time, saving money and keeping your web developer from grumbling under their breath every time you send them a layout.

RotM: Skitch, screen capture utility

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

August's Resource of the Month is Skitch. I've been using it the past few months to help me with my site testing. Being able to quickly add images in my error reports is very useful since it's often times difficult to describe in words what I'm seeing. Aside from Skitch's "my-pretty-pony" look and feel, it's easy to use and it works in both my Mac testing environment and in Parallels for PC testing. It's also free (for now).

I've used Snapz Pro X for several years now and I'll continue to use it for its advanced features (and the fact that I paid for it). But for quick screen shots that you can annotate and drag and drop into another application, Skitch is the clear winner.

In case you're wondering why Resource of the Week is now called Resource of the Month � I've been busy, ok?

Creative Questionnaire: Able Parris

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Able Parris is a website designer and developer for Newfangled Web Factory. Able's 29-year journey as an artist and designer has been a rich and varied one. His first job, building barbed wire fences in Wyoming, gave him an appreciation for hand-crafted work. A self-professed amateur photographer, Able has spent time exploring fine arts at Rhode Island College and Rhode Island School of Design, remodeled houses, built websites, taught himself the guitar and established himself as Newfangled's resident gardener. You can see some of his work at ableparris.com.

Job Description:
I design and do some light development, as well as hold the unofficial role of Minister of Office Culture at Newfangled Web Factory.

Current Project:
It's not unusual that I have several projects going on at the same time. In fact, I almost prefer it that way. I am currently designing DataSynapse.com, 3Cups.net, and NestedHome.com.

First step in my design process:
I try not to walk into the design process blindly. The first step is to have a conversation with the client to get a clear idea of their objectives, what their competitors are doing and how we can do it better, and get an idea of how they plan on growing in the coming years.

Aspect of design I give the highest priority:
Purpose. I believe design is mainly problem-solving, and that without purpose a project will fail. If I can get an good idea of the purpose of a project, I can come up with a solution that will help it succeed. Without purpose I am just making a bad idea look good.

Method for overcoming creative block:
Coffee and a cinnamon bun.

One typical myth about web design:
�It's easy, my cousin does it.�

Most challenging aspect about web design:
When I first started in web design it was to build my online portfolio, and I really wanted it to be like a book. But the internet is not like a book, and it doesn't look like it's going to be anything like a book anytime soon. The great thing about a book is that it has a front and a back; it's easy to navigate. Websites are more like stacks of loose papers than books. The most challenging aspect of web design is designing in such a way to where the user can get information quickly and easily.

Most underrated aspect of web design:
White space

When I first knew I wanted to be a designer:
It's hard to believe, but I didn't know what a �designer� was until 2002. I had been a photographer for years, and had even designed a lot of things and had an interest in architecture. When I realized you could get a degree in design and do it for a living I decided to give it a try.

Inspirations:
I am most inspired by nature, but I get a lot of my ideas when I exercise. It's too bad, because I hardly get either!

Favorite tool:
Moleskine sketchbook

Favorite design resource:
The films of Charles and Ray Eames

The one typeface for a deserted island stay:
I would just like to be able to read my own handwriting.

Bookmarks:
nytimes.com, ilovetypography.com, designobserver.com

Design-related book I highly recommend:
The Wilco Book, although I don't own my own copy

Currently reading:
A Kierkegaard Anthology, and Dante's Inferno. (You caught me during one of my heavier reading schedules!)

Life lesson:
Hang out with people better than you who cause you to be a better person.

If I weren't a designer, I'd be...
a gardener

Favorite (non-design) past time:
Playing my 1940's Silvertone acoustic guitar

Design Guidelines for Agencies, Part 3: Preparing Photoshop Files for Web Design

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Preparing proper Photoshop files is an important part of designing for the web. If you're creating web page layouts in anything other than Photoshop, see my previous post in this series.

In this installment I'll cover how to prepare Photoshop for web design. Preparing your finished design files for production will be covered in another post. The topic of web design is a deep well and there are more than enough books and websites out there to sufficiently cover the topic. For further reading, see the bottom of this post for some links.

Screen Real Estate
What's the optimal size for a website? A few years ago, most usability experts were recommending a maximum size of 800 x 600 pixels (actually, it ended up being 760 x 480 when you subtracted all the real estate the browser frame chewed up). The new standard is 1024 x 768 due to larger monitors and their higher screen resolutions. A size of 1024 x 768 is a guideline; you may decide to make your site larger or smaller. The final size of your website will depend on several factors: content, design, fixed-size elements such as banner ads, the target audience and client requests. Designing sites for hand held devices (like the iPhone) requires a different set of guidelines which I won't be covering here.

Your client might request that all of their important home page content reside "above the fold." This may have been a reasonable request a several years ago, but now it's irrelevant due to how web usage habits have changed over time.

Document Settings
When you open a new document in Photoshop, you'll be presented with a document settings panel in which you can select size, resolution, color mode and bit depth.

Resolution is 72 pixels per inch for on-screen design. It would be higher (266-400ppi) if you were designing for print. That's one of the advantages of designing for the web: you design at actual resolution or, in other words, what you design is what you get.

Color mode should be RGB since that's the native mode for anything viewed on-screen.

Color bit depth should be set to 8 bit. This yields a palette of 16 millions colors. The web-safe color palette (216 colors) is another antiquated web standard, due to advances in computer hardware.

Site Structure
One thing to consider when setting up your site is whether it will be centered or locked left. This effects how your site will behave if the browser window is expanded beyond the borders of your site. A centered site, such as netflix.com, will reposition itself to stay in the middle of the browser window while a locked left site, like Newfangled's, will stay attached to the left side of the browser window and expand to the right. It's important to consider what happens to your site's background when the browser window is expanded, especially if you're using a non-repeating image or pattern.

Another consideration is whether your site will be fixed or fluid. A fixed site will maintain its set width no matter how wide the browser window is extended while the content of a fluid site will expand and contract with the browser window. Actually, even most fluid sites use a mix of expandable and fixed content. Amazon.com has a fluid header and main content with fixed width side bars. Which should you use? That's like trying to decide which is better: Coke or Pepsi. Your choice will depend on the needs of the client, the target audience and the content of the site. You can read about the advantages and disadvantages of fluid vs. fixed here.

The web is a dynamic medium (unlike print, which is static) and your site will render differently based on which browser, OS platform and monitor it's viewed. However, that doesn't mean you should disregard grids and page templates. Setting up a grid for a website is just as important as it is for a magazine or newspaper and it can save you from reinventing the wheel every time you create a new page for your site. Your grid structure will vary depending on whether you've chosen to make your site fluid or fixed. Mark Boulton outlines some simple steps to designing grids on his blog; and his SXSW presentation (PDF) is excellent as well.

Creating page templates will help you avoid having to lay out every page in the site. No matter how complex the site is you should be able to break it down into a handful of template pages (each with its own grid) that can handle any content situation. Since the home page is the visual "front door" to a site, it usually is a "one off" design that contains functionality or components not found on any other page in the site.

Next time: How To Prepare Your Website Designs for Production

Web Design Resources
By no means a definitive list, just some of my favorite sites.

A List Apart
articles on graphic design, interface design, user experience design, typography

Vitamin
resource for web designers, developers and entrepreneurs

Mark Boulton
simple, clean and effective web design

Andy Rutledge
articles and opinions on design professionalism, techniques and culture

Cameron Moll (portfolio)
inspiring web designs

Web Designer Wall
design ideas, web trends, and tutorials

The Evolution of Banner Ads

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I've noticed that banner ads have evolved over time. From static billboards to flash-based interactive banners to "floating" ads (those have to be the most annoying) to 10-second commercials and mini movies. Today, I stumbled upon a mini website contained inside a standard 728 x 90 banner ad.

The banner advertises a new type of litter box with three pull downs revealing a demo video, testimonials and an interactive diagram. I was impressed with how much layered information the banner was able to contain and I liked that I could explore the product without being jerked away to another site.

I suppose it won't be long until these mini-site banner ads start sporting banner ads themselves.

Browser of the Future?

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Aurora (Part 1) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

Adaptive Path has designed a future browser concept named Aurora for Mozilla Labs' Conceptual Browser Series. Four "walk through" videos featuring everyday scenarios show how Aurora would retrieve, display and contextually relate information.

While I like some of the elements presented in the concept such as natural interaction (Á la iPhone) and contextual data relationships, I find the overall UI complex and non-intuitive. For example, the browser's "data cloud" spatial view is a mess; it reminds me of my cluttered dining room table (from which I can never find anything, even if I'm staring right at it). Also, the over-reliance on icons without text identifiers will leave the user hunting and pecking for the correct action item.

What I found more far more intriguing (and executable) is the "dummy" NYT sports page used in the first video. It was designed by Andy Rutledge from Unit Interactive and contains some great UI concepts.

Everyday Design

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

There are many instances of design that are part of our everyday lives but don't wind up in Communication Arts or win Webbys. The Nutrition Facts label is a beautiful piece of information design that millions of people see every day but most don't give a second thought.

Prior to 1990, there were no standards for displaying nutrition information on food packaging. That year, Congress passed a law requiring the FDA to develop a new, universal label. It had to convey complex information in a manner that anyone could understand, it had to be devoid of any color or complex graphics to withstand poor quality printing and it had to be as small as possible to accommodate the demands of food manufacturers who did not want to relinquish valuable label real estate.

Design Guidelines for Agencies, Part 2: What's So Great About Photoshop?

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Newfangled works with many advertising and marketing agencies and we love to provide their clients with well-designed, highly-functional web sites. However, some of the art files we receive from agencies are less than optimal for our purposes. Photoshop is Newfangled's standard for creating web page layouts but we've received layouts in many formats including PDFs, Microsoft Word documents, Illustrator files and even PowerPoint slides.

One of the key reasons we create layouts in Photoshop is the ability to build a 1:1 representation of what the final page will look like in a browser, right down to the individual pixels. The difficulty in translating a file from any other program is that it requires practically rebuilding the layout from scratch in Photoshop, using the provided file as a rough guide.

Adobe Illustrator is a great program for building precise, vector-based artwork but it comes up short as a tool for building web pages. The issue lies in importing an AI file into Photoshop and how differently the two programs render artwork. Illustrator is a vector-based program and Photoshop is a bitmap-based (or raster-based) program. If you open an AI file in Photoshop, Photoshop attempts to translate the vector artwork into a bitmap image. This rasterization creates blurred lines along horizontal and vertical edges which can make slicing up the layout accurately for web application difficult, if not impossible.

We encourage our agency partners to provide us with layered Photoshop files whenever possible. This is not because we're a bunch of whiny prima donnas, but because Photoshop provides the best platform for creating accurate web page layouts and the results save time and money for us, for our agency partners and for the agency's client.

Note: This post is a reworking of an October 2007 article in which I recommended a solution for sucessfully importing Illustrator files into Photoshop for the purposes of web page layout. After further research, I discovered the solution is incomplete and not adequate for Newfangled standards.

Next time: How to Set Up a Photoshop File for Web Design

I love typography, but this is a stretch.

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Chris Butler recently posted a link to an article by David Appell claiming that most of the blogosphere is pure fluff. I was skeptical of this claim but since coming across a blog devoted completely to the ampersand I've started to rethink David's point.

Design Guidelines for Agencies, Part 1: Calibrating Your Equipment

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Newfangled is always looking for ways to improve our agency relationships and make the web development process more productive and enjoyable. With that in mind, I've decided to write a series of how-to posts to help agencies create useful, well-organized and properly calibrated design files for the web.

Hardware Calibration
If you're designing on a Mac, it's important to set your monitor's gamma and color space to accepted web standards in order to produce consistent results between what you're designing and what will be displayed on the web. Gamma is a technical term for your monitor's luminance and color space refers to your monitor's ability to display a range of colors represented by RGB (red, green and blue). If you need the science behind the terms, check out these articles on gamma correction and RGB color space. There are different standards for Macs and PCs when it comes to displaying color (you're not surprised, are you?) and web standards most closely match those of the PC. Macs come with a default gamma setting of 1.8 and PCs are set to 2.2. So if you're designing on a Mac with a gamma of 1.8, your layouts will be darker when viewed on a PC and some of your subtle design elements may disappear altogether.

Important: The following calibration instructions pertain to creating images for the web. If you've already calibrated your equipment to be optimized for print, make a note of those settings (or save them as custom settings) so you can return to them later.

The simplest way to set your monitor to the correct gamma and color space is to open your system preferences panel and choose "Displays" under the Hardware category. Select the third tab, "Color." You'll see a list of Display Profiles on the left. The highlighted selection is your current color space. Scroll down until you see "sRGB IEC61966-2.1" and select it. If you have a laptop with an external monitor, make sure to adjust both your laptop screen and external monitor. Viola. Now you can close the System Preferences panel.

To calibrate your monitor for the lighting conditions of the room you're working in (I recommend this) click the "Calibrate�" button in the color preference window. Apple's Color Assistant will guide you through each step and allow you to set the gamma and white point manually. Simply select 2.2 for the gamma and D65 for the white point and save the custom calibration with your name and the date so you can find it in the profile list later.

Software Calibration
Now that you've calibrated your monitor, your Photoshop color space needs to match your monitor's color space. In Photoshop, select "Color Settings" from the Edit menu. This will bring up the Color Settings panel. From the Settings pull down menu, select "North America Web/Internet." This will set the RGB color space to "sRGB IEC61966-2.1" and fill in the appropriate settings for the other fields. You can save this setting as a custom by clicking the "Save�" button and giving it a name.

Next time: What's So Great About Photoshop?

Font Conference

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Shout out to Able for telling me about this.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Polaroid: Cutting Edge Technology or Dinosaur?

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Polaroid will be introducing a new ink-less photo printer called the PoGo on July 6th. I know what you're thinking. "Polaroid? They're still around?" Yeah, I figured Polaroid, Kodak, Fuji and Konica would have formed a murder-suicide pact by now given the ubiquitousness of digital cameras. But I guess the originator of instant film isn't ready to cash in their chips just yet.

The PoGo uses an ink-less technology that Polaroid has branded as ZINK (zero ink, get it?) which includes a special paper embedded with yellow, magenta and cyan dye crystals, activated with heat pulses from the PoGo printer. The prints are water-resistant, smudge-proof, tear-proof and have a peel-off sticky back.

The printer is about the size of small digital camera, runs on batteries and connects to your camera or phone via Bluetooth. What's that? Your camera doesn't have Bluetooth? Well, the PoGo has a USB port as well. Of course you can only buy the ZINK paper from Polaroid and, with over 100 pending patents, you're not going to see a Wal-Mart brand of this paper any time soon. The POGO printer costs about $150.

Will the PoGo and ZINK technology single-handedly save Polaroid from sinking? We'll have to wait and see how things...develop. Ok, you can penalize me for that last pun.

RotW: Andrew Berg's Flash Photo Browser

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

A clever flash-based photo browser that allows the viewer to "flip" through a stack of photos. You can download the source files from Andrew's site.

Show Me The Money

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The stock photo companies are desperate for my money. How do I know this? The evidence is all the promotional stuff they send me.

Just today I received a package from Jupiter Images. It was a plastic eyeglass case with 3D glasses inside. The included insert directed me to their website where I could look at images from their collection that had been enhanced by another company to be viewed in 3D. So I went to their site and dutifully viewed the slide show. Hey, they sent me free stuff, right? Why wouldn't I oblige by giving them ten minutes of my time?

Then there are the countless mailings from Veer. Most of them are beautifully designed, lavishly produced booklets that feature Veer's photos and typefaces in some elaborate narrative such as, "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" or "Great Architectural Masterpieces of the World Reconstructed in Type." I worked as a print designer for several years and I know how expensive it can be to produce and mail these pieces.

So why are these stock photo companies wasting my time? Don't they know I have to scrape together the cheapest, most overused stock imagery for my projects because most of my clients don't have a stock photography budget? I would looove to license some of the rights-managed images from sites like Getty and Corbis but I have a hard enough time convincing my clients to spend $49.95 on an image, let alone $495.00.

Here's my idea. Instead of sending me 3D glasses or a 45 page booklet on the history of the internet, the stock companies should take the money they blow on promotional mailings and lower the prices of their images. Or, better yet, send me the money and then I can afford to purchase an image that hasn't been seen in every magazine, newspaper and online ad for the past three years.

Now you'll excuse me, I need to go see what cnn.com looks like in 3D.

Kerr Family Trip 2008

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

A few weeks ago the family and I went on our much anticipated semi cross country RV trip. I culled through the 500+ photos and 40+ videos we took while on our journey and compiled them into a music video of sorts. A shout out to Jumpcut, which I used to create the video and is also my Resource of the Week.

Where Does Creativity Come From?

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Photoshop Disasters

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Hey, it's great to be back! Wait, who am I kidding? I really wish I were still on vacation but this pesky "work" thing just won't go away. So here we go.

Just to prove that it really does take an artist to use successfully retouch an image check out Photoshop Disasters, a site that catalogs truly horrible commercial image retouching. You can even submit your own finds to be featured on the site.

Text Link Styling

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Here's an excellent Design View article by Andy Rutledge about a design element that is often overlooked or designed poorly: the text link. Andy shows how text links can be well-designed and enhance the user experience, rather than detracting from it.

RotW: Designers Toolbox

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Although there are far too many "Website of the Week" sites out there, Designers Toolbox has some other features that makes it worth adding to your del.icio.us page.

For print designers, the site has templates you can download for standard folder, envelope and DVD insert sizes. And for web designers, you can download standard form elements (pull downs, radio buttons, check boxes, etc.) for both Mac and PC. Designers Toolbox also has size charts for standard web banner ads.

On The Road Again

Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

This time next week I will be on the road with my family heading west. It's our first extended trip together in an RV and we'll be recording the journey on our family travel blog. So the next time you have a few minutes to spare (like when you're on hold with tech support) come on over and see if Dad has driven the RV into a ditch yet.

Tell Me Your Problems

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

One of the things I've noticed about receiving design feedback from clients is that they frequently offer solutions ("make the text blue") instead of explaining what their problems, or concerns, are with the design ("I'm having a hard time reading the text").

If you surveyed 100 designers and asked them to name one thing they would like their clients to understand it would likely be: designers love to help clients solve their problems. This may be hard to believe, especially if a client recently had a bad experience with some prima donna designer who believes their work should be accepted without question.

Simply telling the designer "make the text blue" doesn't allow them to solve a problem. However, if the client says, "the text is hard to read" or "the site colors seem too dark" the designer can work with the client to come up with a solution. This is far more productive than simply providing the designer with a bulleted list of "solutions" and having them scratch their heads trying to figure out what the client's intentions were.

At Newfangled, we provide the client with a Website Profile at the beginning of the project to help them think through some of the aspects of their website that would not be necessarily be obvious to them. Then, when the first round of home page designs are presented, I'll write a brief "rationale" (why I think these designs are appropriate and the thought process behind it) and some prompting questions to help the client review the designs and provide useful feedback.

Things we ask clients to keep in mind as they review our website designs:

Overall Look & Feel - which design best reflects your organization?
Color Pallete - does the use of color accurately represent your organization? (is it too warm, too cool, too neutral?)
Content - does the design have a good balance of content and white space?
Navigation - does the navigation seem intuitive and well placed?
Images - are the images appropriate for your market area? Do they strike the right tone?

If the designer can initiate an informative discussion between themselves and the client it will go a long way in helping the client be better engaged in the design process and help the designer come up with good solutions for the client's problems.

RotW: Color Oracle

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

About eight percent of men are affected by some sort of color blindness. This is something to consider when developing the UI of your site. There are many forms of color blindness but the most common, red-green blindness, is by far the most frequent form. Color Oracle is a free, system-level application that applies a filter to your screen to simulate the three types of red-green color-blindness.

One of the most critical components of a website affected by color blindness is the text link. Andy Rutledge has posted a great article on how to style your site's text links to make them more distinctive without having to resort to the hideous tag.

Tinyteam.com

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

As David St. Hubbins said in Spinal Tap, "It's such a fine line between stupid, and clever."

Tinyteam.com is just over the line into clever. Instead of traditional navigation, this design studio's site uses a Russian-doll-like effect to take you from one page to the next. Of course, it's 100% Flash (and therefore 100% SEO unfriendly) but it is a fun site to play with. Tinyteam also does a good job at focusing their content and limiting the viewers choices (which can sometimes be a good thing).

RotW: FontStruct

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Some of you may be familiar with Fontographer, a font creation and editing program popular in the 80's and 90's which uses Bzier curves to create font outlines. The learning curve (no pun intended) for Fontographer is a bit steep � for serious designers only.

Now comes FontStruct, a free, online font construction tool brought to you by FontShop (back in December I wrote about another cool FontShop service, HandFont). FontStruct allows you to build your own fonts using geometric shapes on a grid. When you've finished making your character set, FontStruct will "render" your font so you can download it in TrueType format. And did I mention it's free?

The wine-and-brie crowd might turn their collective noses up at such a pedestrian tool as FontStruct, but it's a lot of fun to play with and, who knows, you may discover your inner Erik Spiekermann.

Lorem Ipsum

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Ever wonder where that Latin gibberish that designers use for placeholder text came from? You know, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..." I used it for years without questioning its origins any more than turning on the tap or flicking on a light switch.

The text is not really gibberish but an excerpt from Cicero's, "The Extremes of Good and Evil" written in 45 B.C. You might be asking, "Why is this important?" Well it's not, really. But, just like designers today use type with no knowledge of its origins, Lorem Ipsum is taken for granted. I think having a full knowledge of one's craft makes one a better craftsman.

Findability

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Here at Newfangled, we put a lot of emphasis on writing relevant content for websites and SEO strategies. However, connecting people with the information they're looking for goes beyond just these two aspects. Findability permeates every aspect of web development from initial client contact all the way through to sending a site live. A List Apart has a great article on the topic.

Howcast

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Want to learn how to keep your cat from scratching up your furniture? How to successfully take a cab in NYC? Maybe you've always wanted to build a water-squirting alarm clock. Howcast is the YouTube of how-to guides. It's conveniently organized by categories and the videos range from really useful (how to avoid jetlag) to really weird (how to grow grass in your office mate's keyboard).

RotW: Grunge Design

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Here are a couple of resources that will help you get in touch with your inner grunge designer.

Urban Dirty offers a selection of free background textures that range from grungy to gritty to slimy. The textures are asymmetrical so you can't create a seamless tiled background from any of them, but they're rendered at 180 DPI in small, medium and large sizes.

Go Media's Arsenal site offers textures, vector art and fonts that would appeal to just about any skate rat or tattoo artist. The art is offered in reasonably priced royalty-free collections but you can download free samples here.

Print Design Does Not Equal Web Design

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I spent 10 years as a print designer before coming to Newfangled. I knew almost nothing about how to design for the web when I arrived but, over the past eight years, I've picked up a few things and I now understand why it's very different from designing for print.

For example, one of the keys of a successful website is its content. And one of the keys to good design is making sure your site's content is legible. Admittedly, since I've turned 40, I've had to increase the text size on a few of my favorite sites to reduce the strain on my eyes.

But the following example was clearly executed by a print designer who believes function follows form instead of the other way around. I had to hit command-plus on my keyboard three times before I could even make out what the text said.

Designers who think the web is just an online version of the printed page may as well say there's no difference between Mozart and Van Halen; it's still music, right? I'm not saying that general design principles cannot be applied to the web; good design is still good design. But the medium of the web has unique characteristics that require sensitivity to elements of design that aren't considered (or necessary) in print design.

So if you're a print designer looking to break into the world of web design do yourself a favor � before you buy Photoshop, read some books, take a class or kidnap Jakob Nielsen for a weekend and force him to tell you all he knows about user interface design and usability.

Graveyard of Forgotten Design

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

When Newfangled designs a website we usually provide the client with three options in the first round of the design process. Not unlike a cage match, three designs enter and one leaves.

So what happens to the other two designs? I've been tempted at times to resurrect one of the discarded layouts and recycle it for a new project but I've seen too many zombie movies to risk having my brain eaten by an old design. However, at a friend's suggestion, I've preserved some of these "forgotten" designs on my design:related page.

Daily Monster

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Occasionally, I'll come across something that so inspires me I have to try it myself. Stefan G. Bucher's Daily Monster site actually had me digging out my drawing tools that have been languishing in a tackle box for many years. Stefan creates a monster a day starting with a random ink blot and records the process using time-lapse video. I'm just as impressed with his hand-drawn title cards (scribed upside down, no less!) as I am with his monsters.

I sat down with my 10-year old daughter last Saturday and we tried our hands at creating our own monsters. It didn't take long to realize that it's harder than it looks. Never the less, it was fun to create something that didn't involve a mouse or keyboard.

I Love Typography

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Before I arrived at Newfangled, I spent 10 years as a print designer. While I enjoy the instant gratification the WYSIWYG world of pixels affords me, I miss spec'ing and setting type. I was even fortunate enough to have hand-set metal type back in college before computers and desktop publishing took over.

There's something inherently beautiful about letter forms and the texture they create on the printed page. I first realized this during my sophomore year at RISD while I was hand-drawing letter forms with pen and ink over and over until my typography instructor was satisfied I had mastered proper form and kerning techniques. Desktop publishing, while increasing typesetting production a hundred-fold, slipped a barrier between artist and art form.

So when I want to take a trip down memory lane, I pour myself a wine cooler, put on some Boston and head on over to I Love Typography. More than just a repository of articles and resources for all things typographic, it's also a beautifully designed site.

RotW: EM Calculator

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

EM Calculator is just that: a JavaScript tool that converts size in pixels to relative em units. It also calculates inherited CSS specs from parent to child. It's beautifully simple and that's why it's my Resource of the Week.

Say Hi, Then Back Off

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

This Fast Company article dates from last October but the advice it provides about home page content is timeless, as far as I'm concerned.

Inspiration

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Design:Related is another good example of a social-networking site aimed at artists and designers. The site allows members to share ideas via their portfolios and blog postings. You can also post design that inspires you. I joined back in September and posted a few sites but mostly I like to peruse the inspiration gallery to see what sparks the imagination of other designers.

Resource of the Week

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

30+ Free Three-Column Website Templates from mashable.com. Note to all you prima donna web designers out there: these templates provide great starting points for page architecture and eliminate having to reinvent the wheel every time you design a site. Remember, to steal from one is plagiarism but to steal from many is research.

10 Principles Of Effective Web Design

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Although this article from Smashing Magazine is mostly a distillation of Steve Krug and Jakob Nielsen's writings on usability, it provides some good examples (via screen shots) of effective web design.

Resource of the Week

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I've used ColorBlender for a while now to help me create color palettes based on the client's corporate colors and I've even wandered over to COLOURlovers occasionally when the client has no branding standards at all and I have to start from scratch.

But my new favorite site for creating palettes is Adobe Labs' kuler. Put aside the faux-Bauhaus name and flash-based architecture � this is one cool resource. The kuler site combines the social web aspects of COLOURlovers (tagging and sharing saved palettes) and the practical features of ColorBlender (downloading my saved palettes as swatch files to plug into Photoshop and Illustrator). In addition, kuler allows me to create several different palettes from one base color (analogous, monchromatic, complementary and others) and see the results in real time.

Minimalist Design: Fantasy or Reality?

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

A friend of mine recently sent me a link for 25 Beautiful, Minimalistic Website Designs featured on vandelaydesign.com. I looked them over, admiring the clean lines, large chunks of restful white space and sparse text. I began to think about how some of my own site designs had started out in the minimalist realm (the client requested a "clean and uncluttered" look) but slowly devolved into a design in which most of the site's content (or at least a call-out for it) ended up on the home page. But this post isn't about how to keep a site's home page from becoming the design equivalent of Times Square; you can read more about that subject here and here.

What I noticed about the list of 25 minimalist designs is that 21 of the them are websites for individuals or design firms in which the designer is the client. Does this fact disqualify them from being included in a list of beautifully designed sites? No. But working with a client who isn't yourself can prove to be a bit more challenging when it comes to retaining minimalist design values.

To bring this list a little more into the realm of reality, I would have compiled a gallery of sites that managed to retain some of their original elegance in spite of going through the long and often unpredictable process of site development, design and client feedback.

Shameless Father Plug

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Warning! This post contains a shameless, parent-style video of my 18-month old son, John, dueling with his grandpa. Since I couldn't post this without some embellishment, I've added a little dramatic audio courtesy of iMovie HD.

UniWatch

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Being a graphic designer AND a football fan, I found this site strangely compelling. This just confirms my theory that if you've thought about it, it's on the internet.

Resource of the Week

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Inspired by Chris Butler's Week in Review postings, I've decided to try my hand at a weekly feature. Here's the first installment of "Resource of the Week."

A Year of Design Lists from design:related

New Thoughts on Advanced Search

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Fellow blogger and Newfangled employee Chris Butler turned me on to an article from Boxes and Arrows, entitled "Advancing Advanced Search." Until recently, the advanced searching capabilities of a given site was hidden behind small text link near the general site-wide search widget.

Personally, I've always been intimidated by the term "advanced search." Do I need a special degree or training to utilize this function? Is there a secret hand shake involved? My fears were relieved when I began using the progressive search filtering capabilities of eBay and the advanced search options of two stock photo sites that I frequent. Advanced Search suddenly wasn't so scary (it also turns out that the monster under my bed was just a pile of old socks).

The most interesting solution to advanced searching that I read about in the Boxes and Arrows article is the "progressive disclosure of functionality" method. Instead of a single, complicated page of advanced search options, progressive disclosure breaks the search into understandable units and gives each to the user when they ask for it. It's a sure bet that I'll be bugging our project managers to keep this kind of functionality in mind when they're specing the next content-rich site.

Death, Taxes and Information Design

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Have you ever wondered what the government does with all the tax money it collects? I came across this fascinating graphic called the Death and Taxes Chart and it's a great representation of our government's spending priorities. It's also a good example of information design. I recommend keeping the chart handy this election year as candidates from both sides of the ticket ask for more of your money to fund "worthwhile programs."

The Least of These...

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Favicons are often-overlooked microcosms of design but they have a lot of design value, whether in their own right as tiny pieces of art or as a usability tool � helping users instantly recognize a URL or distinguish one bookmark from another. Smashing Magazine has posted an article highlighting some of the most beautiful and functional favicons.

On Screen Design Tools

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Great suite of web design tools from Allan Jardine, a web UI developer out of Edinburgh, Scotland. These JavaScript bookmarklets allow you to do any of the following on a web page: overlay a grid; measure from one point to another; display rulers and snap guides; and draw a cross hair on a page to assist with layout alignment. And they're free. What more could you want?

Personal Font

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500

FontShop is one of the better font resources I've discovered. They have a great collection of fonts as well as typographic services such as converting PC fonts to Mac and vice versa. One of their coolest services is HandFont. For $179, FontShop will create a full font set based on your handwriting.

Trajan is the Movie Font

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Take a Break!

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Back aching? Eyes sore? Don't reach for that third can of Red Bull, take a break! Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) can take a toll on your creativity and general health.

In addition to an ergonomic keyboard/chair/monitor arrangement, I use AntiRSI, a simple little program to remind me when to take a break. It's only for Mac OSX (that's too bad because most PC users are already stressed enough) and AntiRSI is simple enough not to be a resource hog but sophisticated enough to know when you've taken a natural break.

Grids are Good

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500

A presentation about grids and how they apply to websites. Very educational. Download the PDF.

Pencils!

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0500

There truly is a website for everything. Although the subject matter will appeal to mostly to design geeks and those with a pencil fetish, Bob Truby's Brand Name Pencils site is cleanly designed and well organized.

Tiny URL

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Great site for reducing those really long URLs down to a manageable size.

Turn this URL:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?ovi=1&mqma p.x=300&mqmap.y=75&mapdata=%252bKZmeiIh6N%252bI gpXRP3bylMaN0O4z8OOUkZWYe7NRH6ldDN96YFTIUmSH3Q6 OzE5XVqcuc5zb%252fY5wy1MZwTnT2pu%252bNMjOjsHjvN lygTRMzqazPStrN%252f1YzA0oWEWLwkHdhVHeG9sG6cMrf XNJKHY6fML4o6Nb0SeQm75ET9jAjKelrmqBCNta%252bsKC 9n8jslz%252fo188N4g3BvAJYuzx8J8r%252f1fPFWkPYg% 252bT9Su5KoQ9YpNSj%252bmo0h0aEK%252bofj3f6vCP

into this tinyURL:
http://tinyurl.com/6

One Scary Ad

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

In honor of Halloween, I submit for your consideration one of the scariest ads I've ever seen. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Is Home Page Still King?

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Great article from vitamin.com on how to work with clients to understand the value � and kill off the misconceptions � of the home page in the 21st century.

Vector Magic

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

In the 90's, Adobe sold an application called Streamline which would convert bitmap images into vector art. It wasn't the easiest program to use and the results were mixed. I used it mostly to transform clients' bitmap logos into something I could scale up for print.

Today I stumbled on a web-based app from the fine minds at Stanford University called Vector Magic that produces very detailed vector-based artwork from any image you upload to the site. I tested it against Illustrator CS2's live trace function and Vector Magic won hands down. It even did a great job with a color photo that I uploaded. Best of all, it's free.

Update (March 2008) Vector Magic has gone corporate and the ability to download your converted vector art will cost you $3.50 per download. Still, the software works great and you can re-vectorize your art as many times as you want before committing to a download.

Bringing Illustrator files into Photoshop

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Newfangled works with a lot of advertising and marketing agencies and we love to provide their clients with well-designed, highly-functional web sites. However, in the instances when the agency supplies the web page layouts, we've experienced some challenges.

We create web page layouts exclusively in Photoshop. There are many advantages to this, one of which is the ability to create a layout that is a 1:1 representation of what the final product will look like, right down to the individual pixels. Many agencies use Adobe Illustrator to create client artwork, including building web page layouts.

The difficulty in translating a file from Illustrator to Photoshop lies in how the two programs render artwork. Illustrator is a vector-based program and Photoshop is a bitmap-based program. If you open an Illustrator file (.ai) in Photoshop, it attempts to translate the vector artwork into a bitmap image. This can create certain problems such as blurred edges on hard-edged shapes which can make slicing up the image accurately for web application difficult.

We've encouraged our agency partners to provide us with layered Photoshop files whenever possible but that's not always feasible. Fortunately, there is a reasonable solution. A recent MacWorld article by James Dempsey explains the best way to bring Illustrator files into Photoshop.

Update (August, 2008) Mr. Dempsey's solution for bringing an Illustrator file into Photoshop works great for maintaining your artwork layers. However, there is still the issue of rasterizing vector shapes with straight edges. The sharp edges are softened in the process and you wind up with a blurred edge that has to be manually cleaned up in Photoshop. See this post for more details.

Life Saving Design

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

While discussing the importance of design in the world (or more specifically, the self-importance of some designers) I've often said, "Hey, it's not like we're saving lives." Well it seems I may have to amend my pronouncement. Brandon Schauer, Design Strategist at Adaptive Path, talked to designer Deborah Adler, designer of the ClearRX pill bottle. You can read the article here.

30 Usability Issues

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Familiar with the 72 Principle? How about the 80/20 rule or Fitts' Law? To be honest, I hadn't heard of the last one until today. Smashing Magazine has compiled a glossary of 30 usability terms that any self-respecting web designer should be familiar with.

Mid-Life Crisis?

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

I recently bought a motorcycle. It's my first bike and I'm still learning the finer points of riding. As I've told people about my new purchase their response has been, almost to a person, "Oh, having a mid-life crisis, eh?" This is humorous for a couple of reasons. First, people who know me understand that turning 40 was not a "crisis" by any stretch of the imagination (someone recently told me that 60 is the new 40). Secondly, I always thought the definition of a mid-life crisis was quitting your job, buying a chromed-out $20,000 Harley and snagging a new trophy wife with peroxide-blonde hair and implants. Just to clear things up, I bought a 1980 Honda 750 with over 90,000 miles on it, I've been at the same company for over seven years and the only implants my wife would be interested in would be a second set of arms to keep up with our five children.

Several years ago I made up a list of things to do before I die, one of which was to own a motorcycle, but it's only been in the last year that I actually made plans to put it into action. My best friend Bill also got a bike and we've had some great times riding together.

Sometimes life goes by and we don't make time to do the things we dreamed about as boys. Now, there are some men who have never left the boyhood stage and are living life irresponsibly, but conversely, there are those of us who let the busyness of life push aside some of our dreams. Is there a dream you've put up on the shelf that's collecting dust? An adventure yet to be taken? Don't let a "crisis", mid-life or otherwise, stop you from putting it into action.

Smart Sharpen in Photoshop CS3

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

A great new tool in Photoshop CS3 (or rather, an improvement over an old tool) is the "Smart Sharpen" filter. I've already started using it in place of the tried and true "Unsharp Mask" filter. By the way, who at Adobe names these filters anyway? Wouldn't a rational person conclude that a filter named "unsharp" would make their image less sharp, not more sharp?

Regarless, the Smart Sharpen filter is great because it enables different types of sharpening, a much larger preview and the ability to limit sharpening in the highlights and shadows. This last feature can help eliminate those nasty color halos you get when overall sharpening is applied to an image. You can also save your custom sharpening settings for later use. Very sharp, indeed.

Low Tech explains High Tech

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Common Craft uses low tech videos to explain complex subjects like social bookmarking, wikis, RSS and so on.

Four Ways to Bypass (Design) Inertia

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Designers are often caught staring at their monitors or a blank piece of paper waiting for the Creative Fairy to come and whack them over the head with her wand of inspiration. Unfortunately, that method rarely works.

I've read many articles on how to jump start the creative process but Curt Cloninger's "Four Ways to Bypass Inertia" is one of the best. Curt details four methods that go beyond simply taking a walk to change your view or perusing old CA magazines for inspiration: oblique strategizing, scope plumbing, time-limited designing, and exploratory sketching.

What Color is Your Favorite Movie?

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Interesting article on movie posters and color usage in relationship to MPAA ratings.

I Like Your Colors

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

If you've ever had a client say, "I really like the color scheme of such-n-such site" and you wanted an easy way to obtain the color values without having to take a screen shot and sample each color, you can use Owen Winkler's "I Like Your Colors" site to collect the them for you. Type in the URL and ILYC will return all the colors (in hex format) from the target site's CSS. Unfortunately, ILYC can't sample colors from placed graphics.