{"rowid": 170, "title": "A Pet Project is For Life, Not Just for Christmas", "contents": "I\u2019m excited: as December rolls on, I\u2019m winding down from client work and indulging in a big pet project I\u2019ve been dreaming up for quite some time, with the aim of releasing it early next year. I\u2019ve always been a bit of a sucker for pet projects and currently have a few in the works: the big one, two collaborations with friends, and my continuing (and completely un-web-related) attempt at music. But when I think about the other designers and developers out there whose work I admire, one thing becomes obvious: they\u2019ve all got pet projects! Look around the web and you\u2019ll see that anyone worth their salt has some sort of side project on the go. If you don\u2019t have yours yet, now\u2019s the time!\n\nHave a pet project to collaborate with your friends\n\nIt\u2019s not uncommon to find me staring at my screen, looking at beautiful websites my friends have made, grinning inanely because I feel so honoured to know such talented individuals. But one thing really frustrates me: I hardly ever get to work with these people! Sure, there are times when it\u2019s possible to do so, but due to various project situations, it\u2019s a rarity.\n\nSo, in order to work with my friends, I\u2019ve found the best way is to instigate the collaboration outside of client work; in other words, have a pet project together! Free from the hard realities of budgets, time restraints, and client demands, you and your friends can come up with something purely for your own pleasures. If you\u2019ve been looking for an excuse to work with other designers or developers whose work you love, the pet project is that excuse. They don\u2019t necessarily have to be friends, either: if the respect is mutual, it can be a great way of breaking the ice and getting to know someone. \n\n Figure 1: A forthcoming secret love-child from myself and Tim Van Damme\n\nHave a pet project to escape from your day job\n\nWe all like to moan about our clients and bosses, don\u2019t we? But if leaving your job or firing your evil client just isn\u2019t an option, why not escape from all that and pour your creative energies into something you genuinely enjoy? \n\nIt\u2019s not just about reacting to negativity, either: a pet project is a great way to give yourself a bit of variety. As web designers, our day-to-day work forces us to work within a set of web-related contraints and sometimes it can be demoralising to spend so many hours fixing IE bugs. The perfect antidote? Go and do some print design! If it\u2019s not possible in your day job or client work, the pet project is the perfect place to exercise your other creative muscles. Yes, print design (or your chosen alternative) has its own constraints, but if they\u2019re different to those you experience on a daily basis, it\u2019ll be a welcome relief and you\u2019ll return to your regular work feeling refreshed.\n\n Figure 2: Ligature, Loop & Stem, from Scott Boms & Luke Dorny\n\nHave a pet project to fulfill your own needs\n\nMany pet projects come into being because the designers and/or developers behind them are looking for a tool to accomplish a task and find that it doesn\u2019t exist, thus prompting them to create their own solution. In fact, the very app I\u2019m using to write this article \u2014 Ommwriter, from Herraiz Soto & Co \u2014 was originally a tool they\u2019d created for their internal staff, before releasing it to the public so that it could be enjoyed by others.\n\nJust last week, Tina Roth Eisenberg launched Teux Deux, a pet project she\u2019d designed to meet her own requirements for a to-do list, having found that no existing apps fulfilled her needs. Oh, and it was a collaboration with her studio mate Cameron. Remember what I was saying about working with your friends?\n\n Figure 3: Teux Deux, the GTD pet project that launched just last week\n\nHave a pet project to help people out\n\nOmmwriter and Teux Deux are free for anyone to use. Let\u2019s just think about that for a moment: the creators have invested their time and effort in the project, and then given it away to be used by others. That\u2019s very cool and something we\u2019re used to seeing a lot of in the web community (how lucky we are)! People love free stuff and giving away the fruits of your labour will earn you major kudos. Of course, there\u2019s nothing wrong with making some money, either \u2014 more on that in a second.\n\n Figure 4: Dan Rubin\u2018s extremely helpful Make Photoshop Faster\n\nHave a pet project to raise your profile\n\nSo, giving away free stuff earns you kudos. And kudos usually helps you raise your profile in the industry. We all like a bit of shameless fame, don\u2019t we? But seriously, if you want to become well known, make something cool. It could be free (to buy you the love and respect of the community) or it could be purchasable (if you\u2019ve made something that\u2019s cool enough to deserve hard-earned cash), but ultimately it needs to be something that people will love. \n\n Figure 5: Type designer Jos Buivenga has shot to fame thanks to his beautiful typefaces and \u2018freemium\u2019 business model\n\nIf you\u2019re a developer with no design skills, team up with a good designer so that the design community appreciate its aesthetic. If you\u2019re a designer with no development skills, team up with a good developer so that it works. Oh, and not that I\u2019d recommend you ever do this for selfish reasons, but collaborating with someone you admire \u2014 whose work is well-respected by the community \u2014 will also help raise your profile.\n\nHave a pet project to make money\n\nIn spite of our best hippy-esque intentions to give away free stuff to the masses, there\u2019s also nothing wrong with making a bit of money from your pet project. In fact, if your project involves you having to make a considerable financial investment, it\u2019s probably a good idea to try and recoup those costs in some way.\n\n Figure 6: The success of Shaun Inman\u2018s various pet projects \u2014 Mint, Fever, Horror Vacui, etc. \u2014 have allowed him to give up client work entirely.\n\nA very common way to do that in both the online and offline worlds is to get some sort of advertising. For a slightly different approach, try contacting a company who are relevant to your audience and ask them if they\u2019d be interesting in sponsoring your project, which would usually just mean having their brand associated with yours in some way. This is still a form of advertising but tends to allow for a more tasteful implementation, so it\u2019s worth pursuing. \n\nAdvertising is a great way to cover your own costs and keep things free for your audience, but when costs are considerably higher (like if you\u2019re producing a magazine with high production values, for instance), there\u2019s nothing wrong with charging people for your product. But, as I mentioned above, you\u2019ve got to be positive that it\u2019s worth paying for!\n\nHave a pet project just for fun\n\nSometimes there\u2019s a very good reason for having a pet project \u2014 and sometimes even a viable business reason \u2014 but actually you don\u2019t need any reason at all. Wanting to have fun is just as worthy a motivation, and if you\u2019re not going to have fun doing it, then what\u2019s the point? Assuming that almost all pet projects are designed, developed, written, printed, marketed and supported in our free time, why not do something enjoyable?\n\n Figure 7: Jessica Hische\u2018s beautiful Daily Drop Cap\n\nIn conclusion\n\nThe fact that you\u2019re reading 24 ways shows that you have a passion for the web, and that\u2019s something I\u2019m happy to see in abundance throughout our community. Passion is a term that\u2019s thrown about all over the place, but it really is evident in the work that people do. It\u2019s perhaps most evident, however, in the pet projects that people create. Don\u2019t forget that the very site you\u2019re reading this article on is\u2026 a pet project.\n\nIf you\u2019ve yet to do so, make it a new year\u2019s resolution for 2010 to have your own pet project so that you can collaborate with your friends, escape from your day job, fulfil your own needs, help people out, raise your profile, make money, and \u2014 above all \u2014 have fun.", "year": "2009", "author": "Elliot Jay Stocks", "author_slug": "elliotjaystocks", "published": "2009-12-18T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/a-pet-project-is-for-life-not-just-for-christmas/", "topic": "business"}
{"rowid": 176, "title": "What makes a website successful? It might not be what you expect!", "contents": "What makes some sites succeed and others fail? Put another way, when you are asked to redesign an existing website, what problems are you looking out for and where do you concentrate your efforts?\n\nI would argue that as web designers we spend too much time looking at the wrong kind of problem.\n\nI recently ran a free open door consultancy clinic to celebrate the launch of my new book (yes I know, two shameless plugs in one sentence). This involved various website owners volunteering their sites for review. Both myself and the audience then provided feedback.\n\nWhat quickly became apparent is that the feedback being given by the audience was biased towards design and development.\n\nAlthough their comments were excellent it focused almost exclusively on the quality of code, site aesthetics and usability. To address these issues in isolation is similar to treating symptoms and ignoring the underlying illness.\n\nCure the illness not the symptoms\n\nPoor design, bad usability and terribly written code are symptoms of bigger problems. Often when we endeavour to address these symptoms, we meet resistance from our clients and become frustrated. This is because our clients are still struggling with fundamental concepts we take for granted.\n\nBefore we can address issues of aesthetics, usability and code, we need to tackle business objectives, calls to action and user tasks. Without dealing with these fundamental principles our clients\u2019 website will fail.\n\nLet me address each in turn:\n\nUnderstand the business objectives\n\nDo you ask your clients why they have a website? It feels like an obvious question. However, it is surprising how many clients do not have an answer.\n\nWithout having a clear idea of the site\u02bcs business objectives, the client has no way to know whether it is succeeding. This means they have no justification for further investment and that leads to quibbling over every penny.\n\nHowever most importantly, without clearly defined business aims they have no standard against which to base their decisions. Everything becomes subjective and that will inevitably lead to problems.\n\nBefore we start discussing design, usability and development, we need to focus our clients on establishing concrete business objectives. This will provide a framework for decision making during the development phase.\n\nThis will not only help the client make decisions, it will also focus them on the business and away from micro managing the design.\n\nEstablish clear calls to action\n\nOnce business objectives have been set this opens up the possibility to establish clear calls to action.\n\nI am amazed at how few website owners can name their calls to action. However, I am even more staggered at how few web designers ask about them.\n\nCalls to action are not just limited to ecommerce sites. Whether you are asking people to sign up for a newsletter or complete a contact us form, every site should have a desired objective for users.\n\nWhat is more, each page of a site should have micro calls to action that always draw users on and never leave them at a dead end.\n\nWithout clearly defined calls to action you cannot successfully design a site, structure the user experience or measure its success. They bring focus to the site and encourage the client to concentrate their efforts on helping people reach those goals.\n\nOf course in order to know if a call to action is going to work, it is necessary to do some user testing.\n\nTest against the right tasks\n\nAs web designers we all like to boast about being \u02bbuser centric\u02bc whatever that means! However, in reality I think many of us are paying lip service to the subject.\n\nSure, we ask our clients about who their users are and maybe even do some usability testing. However, usability testing is no good if we are not asking the right questions.\n\nAgain we find ourselves working on a superficial level rather than tackling the deeper issues.\n\nClients find it relatively easy to tell you who their target audience is. Admittedly the list they come back with is often overly long and contains a lot of edge cases. However, where they begin to struggle is articulating what these users will want to achieve on the website. They know who they want to reach. However, they cannot always tell you why those people would be interested in the site.\n\nThese user tasks are another fundamental building block for any successful website. Although it is important for a website owner to understand what their objectives are and what they want users to do, it is even more important that they understand the users objectives as well.\n\nAgain, this provides context for the decisions they are making about design, usability and functionality. Without it the site will become self serving, largely ignoring the needs of users.\n\nUser tasks help to focus the client\u02bcs mind on the needs of their user, rather than what they can get out of them.\n\nSo am I claiming that design, usability and code do not matter? Well the shocking truth is that to some extent I am!\n\nThe shocking truth\n\nWhether we like it or not there is significant evidence that you can create a successful website with bad design, terrible code and without ever running a usability test session.\n\nYou only need to look at the design of Craigslist or the code of Amazon to see that this is true.\n\nHowever, I do not believe it is possible to build a successful website without business objectives, calls to action and a clear idea of user tasks.\n\nDo not misunderstand me. I do believe design, usability and code matters. I just believe that they only matter if the fundamentals are already in place. These things improve a solid foundation but are no use in their own right.\n\nAs web designers it is our responsibility to ensure fundamental questions are being asked, before we start exploring other issues. If we do not, our websites will look great, be well coded and have gone through endless usability tests, however it will not be truly successful.", "year": "2009", "author": "Paul Boag", "author_slug": "paulboag", "published": "2009-12-04T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/what-makes-a-website-successful/", "topic": "business"}
{"rowid": 178, "title": "Make Out Like a Bandit", "contents": "If you are anything like me, you are a professional juggler. No, we don\u2019t juggle bowling pins or anything like that (or do you? Hey, that\u2019s pretty rad!). I\u2019m talking about the work that we juggle daily. In my case, I\u2019m a full-time designer, a half-time graduate student, a sometimes author and conference speaker, and an all-the-time social networker. Only two of these \u201cpositions\u201d have actually put any money in my pocket (and, well, the second one takes a lot of money out). Still, this is all part of the work that I do. Your work situation is probably similar. We are workaholics.\n\nSo if we work so much in our daily lives, shouldn\u2019t we be making out like bandits? Umm, honestly, I\u2019m not hitting on you, silly. I\u2019m talking about our success. We work and work and work. Shouldn\u2019t we be filthy, stinking rich? Well\u2026 okay, that\u2019s not quite what I mean either. I\u2019m not necessarily talking about money (though that could potentially be a part of it). I\u2019m talking about success \u2014 as in feeling a true sense of accomplishment and feeling happy about what we do and why we do it.\n\nIt\u2019s important to feel accomplished and a general happiness in our work. To make out like a bandit (or have an incredible amount of success), you can either get lucky or work hard for it. And if you\u2019re going to work hard for it, you might as well make it all meaningful and worthwhile. This is what I strive for in my own work and my life, and the following points I\u2019m sharing with you are the steps I am taking to work toward this.\n\n\n\tI know the price of success: dedication, hard work & an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen. \u2014 Frank Lloyd Wright\n\n\nLearn. Participate. Do.\n\nThe best way to get good at something is to keep doing whatever it is you\u2019re doing that you want to be good at. For example, a sushi-enthusiast might take a sushi-making class because she wants to learn to make sushi for herself. It totally makes sense while the teacher demonstrates all the procedures, materials, and methods needed to make good, beautiful sushi. Later, the student goes home and tries to make sushi on her own, she gets totally confused and lost. Okay, I\u2019m not even going to hide it, I\u2019m talking about myself (this happened to me). As much as I love sushi, I couldn\u2019t even begin to make good sushi because I\u2019ve never really practiced.\n\nTake advantage of learning opportunities where possible. Whether you\u2019re learning CSS, Actionscript, or visual design, the best way to grasp how to do things is to participate, practice, do. Apply what you learn in your work. Participation is so vital to your success. If you have problems, let people know, and ask. But definitely practice on your own. And as clich\u00e9 as it may sound, believe in yourself because if you don\u2019t think you can do it, no one else will think you can either.\n\nMaintain momentum\n\nWith whatever it is you\u2019re doing, if you find yourself \u201con a roll\u201d, you should take advantage of that momentum and keep moving. Sure, you\u2019ll definitely want to take breaks here or there, but remember that momentum can be very difficult to obtain again once you\u2019ve lost it. Get it done!\n\nDeal with people\n\nWhether you love or hate people, the fact is, you gotta deal with them \u2014 even the difficult ones. If you\u2019re in a management position, then you know pretty well that most people don\u2019t like being told what to do (even if that\u2019s their job). Find ways to get people excited about what they\u2019re doing. Make people feel that they (and what they do) are needed \u2014 people respond better if they\u2019re valued, not commanded. Even if you\u2019re not in a management position, this still applies to the way you work with your coworkers, clients, vendors, etc.\n\nResolve any conflicts right away. Conflicts will inevitably happen. Move on to how you can improve the situation, and do it as quickly as possible. Don\u2019t spend too much time focusing on whose screw up it is \u2014 nobody feels good in this situation. Also, try to keep people informed on whatever it is you need or what it is you\u2019re doing. If you\u2019re waiting on something from someone, and it\u2019s been a while, don\u2019t be afraid to say something (tactfully). Sometimes people are forgetful \u2014 or just slacking. Hey, it happens!\n\nHelp yourself by helping others\n\nWhat are some of the small, simple things you can do when you\u2019re working that will help the people you work with (and in most cases, will end up helping yourself)? For example: if you\u2019re a designer, perhaps taking a couple minutes now to organize and name your Photoshop layers will end up saving time later (since it will be easier to find things). This is going to help both you and your team. Or, developers: taking some time to write some documentation (even if it\u2019s as simple as a comment in the code, or a well-written commit message) could potentially save valuable time for both you and your team later. Maybe you have to take a little time to sit down with a coworker and explain why something works the way it does. This helps them out tremendously \u2014 and will most likely lead to them respecting you a little more. This is a benefit.\n\nIf you make little things like this a habit, people will notice. People will enjoy working with you. People will trust you and rely on you. Sure, it might seem beneficial at any given moment to be \u201cin it for yourself\u201d (and therefore only helping yourself), but that won\u2019t last very long. Helping others (whether it be a small or large feat) will cause a positive impact in the long run \u2014 and that is what will be more valuable to you and your career.\n\nDo work that is meaningful\n\nOne of the best ways to feel successful about what you do is to feel good and happy about it. And a great way to feel good and happy about what you\u2019re doing is to actually do good. This could be purpose-driven work that focuses on sustainability and environmentalism, or work that helps support causes and charity. Perhaps the work simply inspires people. Or maybe the work is just something you are very passionate about. Whatever the work may be, try working on projects that are meaningful to you. You\u2019ll do well simply by being more motivated and interested. And it\u2019s a double-win if the project is meaningful to others as well.\n\nI feel very fortunate to work at a place like Crush + Lovely, where we have found quite frequently that the projects that inspire people, focus on global and social good, and create some sort of positive impact are the very projects that bring us more paid projects. But more importantly, we are happy and excited to do it. You might not work at a company that takes on those types of projects. But perhaps you have your own personal endeavors that create this excitement for you. Elliot Jay Stocks wrote about having pet projects. Do you take on side projects? What are those projects?\n\nOver the last couple years, I\u2019ve seen some really fantastic side projects come out that are great examples of meaningful work. These projects reflect the passions and goals of the respective designers and developers involved, and therefore become quite successful (because the people involved simply love what they are doing while they\u2019re doing it). Some of these projects include:\n\n\n\tTypedia is a shared encyclopedia of typefaces which serves as a resource to classify, categorize, and connect typefaces. It was founded by Jason Santa Maria, a graphic designer with a love and passion for typography. He created it as a solution to a problem he faced as a designer: finding the right typeface.\n\tHuffduffer was created by Jeremy Keith, a web developer who wanted to create a podcast of inspirational talks \u2014 but after he found that this could be tedious, he decided to create a tool to automate this.\n\tLevel & Tap was created by passionate photographer and web developer, Tom Watson. It began as a photography print store for Tom\u2019s best personal photography. Over time, more photographers were added to the site and the site has grown to become quite a great collection of beautiful photography.\n\tHeat Eat Review is a review blog created by information architect and user experience designer, Abi Jones. As a foodie, she is able to use this passion for this blog, as it focuses on reviewing TV Dinners, Frozen Meals, and Microwavable Foods.\n\tArt in My Coffee, a favorite personal project of my own, is a photo blog of coffee art I created, after I found that my friends and I were frequently posting coffee art photos to Flickr, Twitter, and other websites. After the blog became more popular, I teamed up with Meagan Fisher on the project, who has just as much a passion for coffee art, if not more.\n\n\nSo, what\u2019s important to you?\n\nThis is the very, very important question here. What really matters to you most? Beyond just working on meaningful projects you are passionate about, is the work you\u2019re doing the right work for you, so that you can live a good lifestyle? Scott Boms wrote an excellent article, Burnout, in which he shares his own experience in battling stress and exhaustion, and what he learned from it. You should definitely read the article in its entirety, but a couple of his points that are particularly excellent are:\n\n\n\tMake time for numero uno, in which you make time for the things in life that make you happy\n\tExamine your values, goals, and measures of success, in which you work toward the things you are passionate about, your own personal development, and focusing on the things that matter.\n\n\nA solid work-life balance can be a challenging struggle to obtain. Of course, you can cheat this by finding ways to combine the things you love with the things you do (so then it doesn\u2019t even feel like you\u2019re working \u2014 oh, you sneaky little bandit!). However, there are other factors to consider beyond your general love for the work you\u2019re doing. Take proper care of yourself physically, mentally, and socially.\n\nSo, are you making out like a bandit?\n\nDo you feel accomplished and generally happy with your work? If not, perhaps that is something to focus on for the next year. Consider your work (both in your job as well as any side projects you may take on) and how it benefits you \u2014 present and future. Take any steps necessary to get you to where you need to be. If you are miserable, fix it!\n\nFinally, it\u2019s important to be thankful for the things that matter to you and make you happy. Pass it along everyday. Thank people. It\u2019s a simple thing, really. Saying \u201cthank you\u201d can and will have enormous impact on the people around you. Oh. And, I apologize if the title of this article led you to thinking it would teach you how to be an amazing kisser. That\u2019s a different article entirely for 24 ways to impress your friends!", "year": "2009", "author": "Jina Anne", "author_slug": "jina", "published": "2009-12-21T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/make-out-like-a-bandit/", "topic": "business"}
{"rowid": 187, "title": "A New Year's Resolution", "contents": "The end of 2009 is fast approaching.  Yet another year has passed in a split second. Our Web Designing careers are one year older and it\u2019s time to reflect on the highs and lows of 2009. What was your greatest achievement and what could you have done better? Perhaps, even more importantly, what are your goals for 2010?\n\nSomething that I noticed in 2009 is that being a web designer 24/7; it\u2019s easy to get consumed by the web. It\u2019s easy to get caught up in the blog posts, CSS galleries, web trends and Twitter!  Living in this bubble can lead to one\u2019s work becoming stale, boring and basically like everyone else\u2019s work on the web. No designer wants this.\n\nSo, I say on 1st January 2010 let\u2019s make it our New Year\u2019s resolution to create something different, something special or even ground-breaking! Make it your goal to break the mold of current web design trends and light the way for your fellow web designer comrades!\n\nOf course I wouldn\u2019t let you embark on the New Year empty handed. To help you on your way I\u2019ve compiled a few thoughts and ideas to get your brains ticking!\n\nDon\u2019t design for the web, just design\n\nA key factor in creating something original and fresh for the web is to stop thinking in terms of web design. The first thing we need to do is forget the notion of headers, footers, side bars etc. A website doesn\u2019t necessarily need any of these, so even before we\u2019ve started we\u2019ve already limited our design possibilities by thinking in these very conventional and generally accepted web terms. The browser window is a 2D canvas like any other and we can do with it what we like. \n\nWith this in mind we can approach web design from a fresh perspective. We can take inspiration for web design from editorial design, packaging design, comics, poster design, album artwork, motion design, street signage and anything else you can think of. Web design is way more than the just the web and by taking this more wide angled view of what web design is and can be you\u2019ll find there are a thousand more exiting design possibilities.\n\nNote: Try leaving the wire framing till after you\u2019ve gone to town with some initial design concepts. You might find it helps keep your head out of that \u2018web space\u2019 a little bit longer, thus enabling you to think more freely about your design. Really go crazy with these as you can always pull it back into line later. The key is to think big initially and then work backwards. There\u2019s no point restricting your creativity early on because your technical knowledge can foresee problems down the line. You can always sort these problems out later on\u2026 let your creative juices flow!\n\n Inspiration can come from anywhere! (Photo: modomatic)\n\nTry something new!\n\nProgress in web design or in any design discipline is a sort of evolution. Design trends and solutions merge and mutate to create new design trends and hopefully better solutions. This is fine but the real leaps are made when someone has the guts to do something different. \n\nDon\u2019t be afraid to challenge the status quo. To create truly original work you have to be prepared to get it wrong and that\u2019s hard to do. When you\u2019re faced with this challenge just remind yourself that in web design there is rarely a \u2018best way to do something\u2019, or why would we ever do it any other way? \n\nIf you do this and get it right the pay off can be immense. Not only will you work stand out from the crowd by a mile, you will have become a trend setter as opposed to a trend follower.\n\nTell a story with your design\n\nGreat web design is way more than just the aesthetics, functionality or usability. Great web design goes beyond the pixels on the screen. For your website to make a real impact on it\u2019s users it has to connect with them emotionally. So, whether your website is promoting your own company or selling cheese it needs to move people. You need to weave a story into your design. It\u2019s this story that your users will connect with. \n\nTo do this the main ingredients of your design need to be strongly connected. In my head those main ingredients are Copy, Graphic Design, Typography, imagery and colour. \n\nCopy\n\nStrong meaningful copy is the backbone to most great web design work. Pay special attention to strap lines and headlines as these are often the sparks that start the fire. All the other elements can be inspired by this backbone of strong copy.\n\nGraphic Design\n\nUse the copy to influence how you treat the page with your graphic design. Let the design echo the words.\n\nTypography\n\nWhat really excites me about typography isn\u2019t the general text presentation on a page, most half decent web designer have a grasp of this already. What excites me is the potential there is to base a whole design on words and letters. Using the strong copy you already have, one has the opportunity the customise, distort, build and arrange words and letters to create beautiful and powerful compositions that can be the basis for an entire site design.\n\n Get creative with Typography (Photo: Pam Sattler)\n\nImagery and Colour\n\nWith clever use of imagery (photographs or illustrations) and colour you further have the chance to deepen the story you are weaving into your design. The key is to use meaningful imagery, don\u2019t to insert generic imagery for the sake of filling space\u2026 it\u2019s just a wasted opportunity.\n\nRemember, the main elements of your design combined are greater than the sum of their parts. Whatever design decisions you make on a page, make them for a good reason. It\u2019s not good enough to try and seduce your users with slick and shiny web pages. For your site to leave a lasting impression on the user you need to make that emotional connection.\n\n Telling the Story (Advertising Agency: Tita, Milano, Italy, Art Director: Emanuele Basso)\n\nGo one step further\n\nSo you\u2019ve almost finished your latest website design. You\u2019ve fulfilled the brief, you\u2019re happy with the result and you\u2019re pretty sure your client will be too. It\u2019s at this point we should ask ourselves \u201cCan I push this further\u201d? What touches could you add to the site that\u2019ll take it beyond what was required and into something exceptional? The truth is, to produce exceptional work we need to do more than is required of us. We need to answer the brief and then some!\n\nGo back through your site and make a note of what enhancements could be made to make the site not just good but outstanding. It might be revisiting a couple of pages that were neglected in the design process, it might be adding some CSS 3 gloss for the users that can benefit from it or it might just be adding some clever little easter eggs to show that you care. These touches will soon add up and make a massive difference to the finished product.\n\nSo, go one step further\u2026 take it further than you anyone else will. Then your work will stand out for sure.\n\nParting message\n\nI love being a designer for many of reasons but the main one being that with every new project we embark on we have the chance to express ourselves. We have the chance to create something special, something that people will talk about. It\u2019s this chance that drives us onwards day after day, year after year. So in 2010 shout louder than you ever have before, take chances, try something new and above all design your socks off!", "year": "2009", "author": "Mike Kus", "author_slug": "mikekus", "published": "2009-12-10T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/a-new-years-resolution/", "topic": "business"}
{"rowid": 189, "title": "Ignorance Is Bliss", "contents": "This is a true story.\n\nMeet Mike \n\nMike\u2019s a smart guy. He knows a great browser when he sees one. He uses Firefox on his Windows PC at work and Safari on his Mac at home. Mike asked us to design a Web site for his business. So we did.\n\nWe wanted to make the best Web site for Mike that we could, so we used all of the CSS tools that are available today. That meant using RGBa colour to layer elements, border-radius to add subtle rounded corners and (possibly most experimental of all new CSS), generated gradients.\n\n The home page Mike sees in Safari on his Mac\n\nMike loves what he sees.\n\nMeet Sam\n\nSam works with Mike. She uses Internet Explorer 7 because it came on the Windows laptop that the company bought her when she joined. \n\n The home page Sam sees in Internet Explorer 7 on her PC\n\nSam loves the new Web site too.\n\nHow could both of them be happy when they experienced the Web site differently?\n\nThe new WYSIWYG\n\nWhen I first presented my designs to Mike and Sam, I showed them a Web page made with HTML and CSS in their respective browsers and not a picture of a Web page. By showing neither a static image of my design, I set none of the false expectations that, by definition, a static Photoshop or Fireworks visual would have established.\n\nMike saw rounded corners and subtle shadows in Firefox and Safari. Sam saw something equally as nice, just a little different, in Internet Explorer. Both were very happy because they saw something that they liked.\n\nNeither knew, or needed to know, about the subtle differences between browsers. Their users don\u2019t need to know either.\n\nThat\u2019s because in the real world, people using the Web don\u2019t find a Web site that they like, then open up another browser to check that it looks they same. They simply buy what they came to buy, read what what they came to read, do what they came to do, then get on with their lives in blissful ignorance of what they might be seeing in another browser.\n\nOften when I talk or write about using progressive CSS, people ask me, \u201cHow do you convince clients to let you work that way? What\u2019s your secret?\u201d Secret? I tell them what they need to know, on a need-to-know basis.\n\nEpilogue\n\nSam has a new iPhone that Mike bought for her as a reward for achieving her sales targets. She loves her iPhone and was surprised at just how fast and good-looking the company Web site appears on that. So she asked,\n\n\n\t\u201cAndy, I didn\u2019t know you optimised our site for mobile. I don\u2019t remember seeing an invoice for that.\u201d\n\n\nI smiled.\n\n\n\t\u201cThat one was on the house.\u201d", "year": "2009", "author": "Andy Clarke", "author_slug": "andyclarke", "published": "2009-12-23T00:00:00+00:00", "url": "https://24ways.org/2009/ignorance-is-bliss/", "topic": "business"}