Resource Roundup for April 14, 2011
Here's something new for a change: I'd like to try putting out a regular list of things you should read/watch/hear that relate to what we're all doing these days on the web. To start, here are a few from the past couple of weeks...
How To Prepare Photoshop Files for Production
A few years ago I wrote a series of posts entitled "Design Guidelines for Agencies" in which I covered topics such as how to calibrate your equipment for web design and preparing design files. I've updated the fourth installment of that series in a short video which deals with how to prepare Photoshop files for website production.
Planning the Agency Website
Call your clients
The best piece of advice I ever received about repairing a
troubled relationship came from my brother, a man of few words who calls things like they are. As I analyzed and plotted my strategy to conquer the situation like a game of Risk, he stopped me cold in my tracks and said, "Katie, it's not that complicated. Just call them once a week." I had never considered that the solution to such a complicated problem could be that simple...
Delivering a mobile experience
About a week ago Chris Butler and I were invited to speak about the mobile web at UNC's Wilson Library. Chris shared some thoughts about the state (both current and future) of mobile technology. I followed up with some technical considerations. The first topic I discussed, which I'll cover in this post, was how to deliver the alternate experience. I examined two approaches.
American Forest Foundation Site Goes Live
This week, Newfangled sent the first of three sites for the American Forest Foundation live. The site was built in partnership with Bates Creative Group, who created the design. In the coming months, Newfangled will also be building two other sites for AFF, Project Learning Tree and the American Tree Farm System.
Prototyping for Designers
What, exactly, is the role of design in prototyping? Once a prototype is approved, which aspects of it should designers take literally and which are more flexible? In this month's newsletter, I'll answer these questions and many more in an effort to clarify the relationship between website prototyping and visual design...
Interview with Eric Holter on Website Prototyping
Waaaaay back in 2001, Eric Holter, the founder of Newfangled, discovered a radical new approach to planning websites. Instead relying upon sitemaps and wireframes to communicate the website experience, he figured an interactive version might do the trick. It actually worked so well that he wrote a book about it describing the revolutionary effect it had on Newfangled's process. Because this month's newsletter is all about prototyping, I decided to sit down with Eric and hear the story of how it all got started ten years ago...
Week 800
Somehow the roundness of a number seems to increase its significance. So, wow, 800 weeks! This picture was actually taken during week 798
For the Love of Agencies
Each year, we refine our positioning and commit more and more to working with small agencies, and my schedule for the past three months has really put my interest in that commitment to the test. So, after doing all I could to overdose on small agencies over the past 90 days I'm very happy to report that I love working with small agencies more than ever!