Last one for this morning ;)
After I meet with a cient and figure out what kind of application they want, I tend to take that information, let it sink in, and then I go browsing other inspirational websites to see what’s out there… and then I STEAL THOSE AWESOME IDEAS!
Design is about coming up with new stuff, but it depends upon what users already know and also what we’re able to do with development. Looking at galleries of other websites is actually my favorite part of the process as I get to ooh and aah at all the possibilities! From there my imagination takes over and I go nuts!
This gallery is one of my favorites and gets updated often. If you find yourself in a rut or just want a smile put on your nerdy face, check it out :)
I find that there is never enough time to read. Reading really is one of my favorite ways to learn - you’ll go through a book and change your entire mindset on life and not even realize it. It’s fantastic. Especially if it’s not textbook learning with quizzes in the middle (yuck!)
But when you do get that time, I find it extremely valuable and you don’t want to waste what you spend your time reading. That’s why I recommend sites that I tend to use and find useful so you don’t spend your valuable reading time LOOKING for something to read.
Have a go at this blog - he’s always got great things to say!
If you’re a designer - you need to check this site out.
It’s especially great for when you’re trying to pull together wireframes for a client, or even just pull some inspiration as you create a symbol/icon.
It’s a library of vector art, all FREE as long as you promise to contribute the work to the designer.
I should have posted this link a million years ago when I found it!
Buuuut my blogging habits aren’t as great as I want them to be (…yet!).
I stumbled across this guy’s work accidentally when I was searching for inspiration for a website I was creating. The specific site of his I found was one I tweeted actually - his wedding website. I didn’t realize it was his own when I first came across it. —> http://www.jennyandgrayden.com/
It was cute and BEAUTIFUL and that was the moment I knew I was a #supernerd for wanting to do this for my own wedding one day. Absolutely adorable.
But anyways, the way he designed his site is awesome, and I tend to return to his site for inspiration often. I recommend checking him out when you get a chance :). It’s a website that’s just fun to get lost in
Oh check out the side bar on the right - that’s one of my favorite pieces!
Found a beautiful CSS library for designers!
While of course I’m not down to use this for every website I create, but it would be a really neat wireframing tool… and not in the traditional sense, but in the skeleton of the website sense. Let me elaborate:
So you’re a designer who runs these sprints for companies and they want a design done on the front end. Welp, you’ve got some css/html basic knowledge and your job is always to create wireframes/mockups for your clients. So you whip up a quick web page, use this pre-created components, and have a live wireframe for your client to look at.
Vuala! You just delighted a customer (oh man I worked at Mighty Fine for too long…)
OR I really like the idea of, AFTER getting a design approved by a client, you go in and actually make a css library for each project. That way, your front end guy or developer doesn’t have any question as to how things work/run :)
Just an awesome thought.
I absolutely LOVE these colors. Lately with the Best Friends Apprenticeships stuff I’ve been playing with, I’ve been stuck in a “color rut” where I’ve been focusing mainly on red and blue palettes.
I really really like this one - while it’s still sort of in that trench, the orange fits beautifully - I might have to create something with these colors soon just to help myself climb out of my hole!
You had me at “cat in a shark suit, on a romba, chasing a duck”
Currently the chief operating officer of Facebook (since 2008) Sheryl Sandberg is a wonderful women with great successes under her belt. I was listening to her talk about her book “Lean In” this morning and she said something that rang quite true with myself:
She explained that when men and women look back on their performance, men tend to remember it slightly higher, and women tend to remember it slightly lower.
She says this is because men tend to attribute successes to themselves because they’re good!
However women tend to attribute success to a mix of hard work, help from others, and getting very lucky.
This phrasing rang so clear with me that I decided to purchase the book. I will let you know what I find!
I’ve had an interesting relationship with development since Balderdash began. Having a design background, I first got my real taste of code at night as I designed by day. It’s a grueling and exponentially rewarding process that is inevitable in my field. Needless to say, it’s time to dive in again!
My current knowledge consists of basic HTML, CSS, and enough PHP and Python to be dangerous. However after lack of practice with PHP, I think it’s time to not only refresh my skills on that front, but also to dive into some long overdue javascript.
Because of the Sails.js framework my business partner Mike created, backbone might be in need as well. However I tackle that hurdle as it comes.
I’m letting you guys know so you can come along with me! I know learning a new language is never an easy task, and I acknowledge that up front. But It’s a challenge worth overcoming. Besides, having done it already - I look back and can only be proud of the hard work put in. As all of you should be!
Last time i went through video tutorials on Lynda.com, but am going to try a different method - http://www.codecademy.com/tracks.
So let’s dive in! Step 1: getting refamiliarized with PHP
