“Web design is not merely building. It’s not just designing. It’s not only the rest of the myriad disciplines and titles we all align ourselves with, but the culmination of all these things.” - Jason Santa Maria, A Real Web Design Application … Read the rest here
A Real Web Design Application : This is a very thorough overview by Jason Santa Maria of the current tools available to web designers, their shortcomings, and the friction and waste created by transferring work from tool to browser. Jason’s argument toward the end of his article will certainly continue a debate that’s already raging: A web designer jumping into the browser before tackling the creative and messaging problems is akin to an architect hammering pieces of wood together and then measuring afterwards. The imaginative process is cut short by the tools at hand; and it’s that imagination—or spark—at the beginning of a design that lays the path for everything that follows. Without it, you’re at best able to make a website that looks like a website—rather than a design that tells a story in the form of a website. To read only the above quote on its own would be to take Jason’s remarks out of context. The paragraphs that follow demonstrate he favors designing in the browser if the tools to do so can be improved. … Read the rest here
HTML5 Live with John Allsopp : Just purchased my subscription. Though I’m familiar with a lot of this, I still have plenty to learn. I suspect it’ll be a good interactive complement to Jeremy Keith’s HTML5 for Web Designers . … Read the rest here
World Cup Typography: Yomar Augusto : Though game play ended a few weeks ago, this is still worth reading. FontFont’s Yves Peters interviews Brazilian designer Yomar Augusto, creator of the Unity typeface designed exclusively for Adidas. The typeface appeared on the World Cup ball and the jerseys for teams such as Germany, Argentina, and the 2010 champions, Spain. See also Paul Barnes work for the World Cup . … Read the rest here
UI Design Palettes for Illustrator : If you prototype in Illustrator, consider downloading this framework. Includes GUI elements, interface icons, and buttons styles, all of which can be dropped into your artwork and customized as needed. /via Zeldman … Read the rest here
This beautiful Apple Airport Basestation was my 30th birthday present from my wife, quite possibly one of the best presents I’ve ever had. The gift of wireless. In those days it was 1mb broadband, but it was still exciting being able to work from anywhere in the house. These days it’s been overtaken by N wireless devices, but it’s such a design classic that it has to be on display. It’s new home is the windowsill next to my desk at Webble Mill. … Read the rest here
An interview with Think Vitamin : While I was in London for the Future of Web Design conference this past May, I had the pleasure of chatting with Keir Whitaker from Carsonified about Dribbble . You can also find the audio over at Huffduffer if you happen to huff the duff stuff. … Read the rest here
A recent plea on twitter for an Illustrator script has been answered! I needed to export all my artboards as 24bit PNG s, with the artboard name as the filename, but Illustrator doesn’t come with a built in method to do this. The closest it offers is the standard export, where it can save all artboards, but it always appends the document name to the start of the filename. Big hurrays then for Dan Smith for creating exactly the script I needed! It’s already made a big difference to my workflow. If you’d like a copy too, Download Artboards-PNG24.jsx . I placed mine in Illustrators Presets/en_gb/Scripts folder to make sure it’s always loaded… Read the rest here
A recent plea on twitter for an Illustrator script has been answered! I needed to export all my artboards as 32bit PNG s (24bit + 8 bit Alpha Channel), with the artboard name as the filename, but Illustrator doesn’t come with a built in method to do this. The closest it offers is the standard export, where it can save all artboards, but it always appends the document name to the start of the filename. Big hurrays then for Dan Smith for creating exactly the script I needed! It’s already made a big difference to my workflow. If you’d like a copy too, Download Artboards- PNG .jsx . I placed mine in Illustrators Presets/en_gb/Scripts folder to make sure it’s always loaded. Tagged: adobe , illustrator … Read the rest here
Last night I presented a 5 minute microslot on CSS Filters – excluding older versions of IE from seeing your CSS , and feeding extra styles to specific versions of IE and mobile browsers. The slides (with presenter notes) are now available to download from the new Speaking section. Comment on this … Read the rest here
8 Faces : I just purchased a debut copy of Elliot Jay Stocks ’ new print magazine that asks: “If you could only use eight typefaces for the rest of your life, which would you choose? 8 Faces is a new magazine for devotees of typography that asks this question — and many more — to eight leading designers from the fields of web design, print design, illustration, and of course type design itself.” Hurry though, only 1000 copies available. … Read the rest here
I recently created a new Nina character for WooThemes, but this time, the post about the work is on the WooThemes Blog! Comment on this … Read the rest here
Drew Strojny from the ThemeFoundry (who I knew from his lovely Traction theme ) recently asked me if I’d like to create a new WordPress theme for him. The offer-I-couldn’t-refuse was complete creative freedom, and the opportunity to make the design process visible. That doesn’t mean ‘open’ in the sense of ‘everything being up for discussion with the internets’ (that way madness lies), but documenting the steps as we go. Everyone has a different workflow, and my workflow isn’t necessarily the right approach for anyone else and vice versa. However, I still love hearing others explain their thought process – the ‘Design Eye’ panels at SXSW spring immediately to mind as being good examples. So on this blog, and on my dribbble account, I’ll be recording what happens as it goes along… Read the rest here
“I found myself resorting to the same button styles, shading techniques, etc… and having to force myself to go back and change things up. I figured that if these guys can spend a year making a single piano, I could probably spend an extra couple hours here and there on refining these details.” - Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain on his redesign of Steinway & Sons … Read the rest here
Steinway & Sons Redesign : Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain, describing (and showing) his approach to the redesign: One of my personal goals for this project was to get away from relying on the same techniques that I’ve become comfortable with over the years… and it was actually harder than I thought it would be. I found myself resorting to the same button styles, shading techniques, etc… and having to force myself to go back and change things up. I figured that if these guys can spend a year making a single piano, I could probably spend an extra couple hours here and there on refining these details. At his request, I had the fortunate pleasure of critiquing Jesse’s work along the way. Like “That’s horrific” and “You really need to consider another career”. Of course, I said that only because I couldn’t man up to confessing how beautiful his comps were… Read the rest here
Q & A with Jason Munn of the Small Stakes : Grain Edit interviews the prolific music poster designer. Have long been a fan, and now purchasing the book , which collects over 150 of Munn’s poster designs for various indie bands. … Read the rest here
Just as it was with their first album “Alpinisims” , the School of Seven Bells second album ‘Disconnect from Desire’ is in heavy rotation at the moment. It’s another one of those albums that even when I’m not playing it, it’s still playing in my head . Especially the closing number “The Wait”, which is nearing 25 plays in just a couple of days. There’s already a few contenders for favourite album of the year, but this is the top of the list. … Read the rest here
Future of Web Design - New York : More about this later, but for now a brief announcement: I’ll be joining a marvelous crew of speakers at this year’s Future of Web Design in New York, several of whom I’ve known virtually for years but have yet to meet in person. Register now for early bird tickets and save $300. … Read the rest here
Khoi Vinh Resigns as NYTimes.com Design Director : A good friend and long-time inspiration for me, Khoi is moving on: It wasn’t an easy decision. I’ve been at The New York Times for four and a half years now, four and a half years that will doubtless figure prominently in my life for years to come. There were some rough patches, as there are with any job, but on the whole it’s been the best job I’ve ever had…. In the short run, I’ll be doing lots of stuff on a smaller scale: personal projects that I’ve been tinkering with, a few public speaking appearances, a bit of writing (including finishing a book I started earlier this year), some short-term work for companies with whom I’m friendly, and more. … Read the rest here
Delicious packaging design for Gail’s Artisan Bakery. Comment on this … Read the rest here