As I looked for some items that we frequently buy, I had to look a lot closer because I was not able to use the visual cues that I have come to associate with these items like color and look of the former packaging.

I was reminded how important visual consistency can be. You can really disorient visitors to your Web site if you drastically change the visual interface.

Several of the design experts I follow advocate realign or making small incremental changes rather than drastic redesigns. One of the reasons is the very thing I experienced today–I was a bit disoriented because the visual cues I relied on to find products quickly had changed. The same thing happens to users on your Web site. They get use to page elements being in a certain place. Color can serve as a cue. The consistency creates a mental modal that you break if you make too many drastic changes.

As many designers do, I like the challenge of a redesign. I am more familiar with my design than anyone and I can get bored after a while and want to redesign. But it can do a big disservice to the audience of the site. I like the thinking of Cameron Moll because he challenges designers to have really good reasons for wanting to change the look of a site in a dramatic way. It is much more effective to make small changes over time.

What do you think? Do you like to redesign? How do other site redesigns affect you?

Helpful resources:

• Cameron Moll’s Good Designers Realign
• Jared Spool’s Podcast Avoiding Redesigns

It was the second straight time that I had received this message after pumping gas at a neighborhood station. Doesn’t that sort of defeat the whole purpose of paying at the pump. I want convenience. I want to be able to pump my gas, get my receipt, not have to interact with anyone, and then get on my way. I wonder if they do this on purpose to get people into the store, where they are enticed to buy something sweet.

A poor customer experience.

Tonight on the way home from the office, I was at my neighborhood Walmart. One of the things I like about this store is that it is close to my house and it is convenient. One of the reasons for it’s convenience is self-checkout. But on recent visits, those lanes have been closed and only one register is open. So I have to stand in line when I want to be on my way home.

Tonight, they only had two of the four self checkout lanes open. It meant I had to stand in line there, or go to another line where I had to interact with a cashier. I want convenience and to be on my way to spend time with my family.

Another poor customer experience.

Where Shopping is a Pleasure

Contrast my Walmart experience with going to Publix later tonight. (I really like Publix but go to Walmart more often because it is closer to my house and the prices are lower.) Publix’s tag line is “where shopping is a pleasure.” I cannot think of an experience I have had at Publix where it was not a pleasure. I actually like interacting with Publix employees because they have a smile on their face and genuinely want to serve the customer. They value their customers. I don’t always feel that way at Walmart.  I usually leave Publix with a smile on my face, or at least in my heart because it has been a pleasurable experience.

Going Online

As a Web designer, I think a lot of customer or user experience. My passion for user experience comes from the fact that before I was a Web designer, I was a Web user and I still am. I learn so much by reflecting upon my own experiences online.

Tonight, I was online trying to register for State Farm’s Web site. My car insurance premium is due and wouldn’t you know it, I am out of checks. I hardly ever use checks except to pay a few bills and give to my local church. So I went online to pay my bill. It would have been nice if State Farm mentioned this online payment option on my bill. I found out about this option by calling my local agent. I can only describe my online experience as painful. I had log-in multiple times and encountered several application errors before completing my task. A poor experience.

Minutes later, I was paying my Discover bill online. Discover has a great Web site. They make it easy for you to get your task done and get on with your life. A lot of the success of their user experience is due to the visual design that make the interactions clear. Nice big buttons help me to navigate my way to my destination. Of course, most of the time, I don’t even think about the experience. It meets my expectations and I accomplish my task. Not memorable but definitely pleasurable in the sense that I accomplish my task and come move on to things like writing this blog post. Way to go Discover Card.

So what do I take away from my experiences tonight. I am challenged to consider how I help the people that use the sites I design.

• Are the call to actions clear?
• Can they easily find what they want?
• Are they able to accomplish their tasks quickly and move on to some other aspect of their life?
• Does the visual design I create provide an pleasurable environment that the user may not be consciously aware of?
• Do those who visit my sites have a good experience as they accomplish their task? In the end, that is what matters the most to me.

How do your good or bad experiences in the offline or online world affect your work as a designer or developer? Please share your thoughts.

First and foremost, a Web designer is a problem solver. A client comes with a message they want to communicate, information that they want to share, or a product or products that they want to sell. My job is to find an appropriate visual solution that will tell their story and connect people with the service they are offering or selling.

I craft a solution by visually organizing the text, images and video on the page to communicate my client’s message. I also craft a visual personality that helps supports the communication of that message.

A Hybrid ???

I have always assumed that a Web designer was one who not only came up with a visual design but also had the skills to build that design. My thinking is shaped by the fact that I first got into Web design by learning HTML so that I could create a Web page. This was back in the late 1990’s and visual design on the Web was in its infancy. Slow connections meant that you had to be creative to add graphics to a page and make it efficient to download. So I learned to code in HTML and later in CSS so that I could bring my creations to life.

Hence, I have always thought that it served a Web designer well to know how to build his or her creation (read a recent post on the subject.) There are many times when I will not even do a design comp but jump right into writing HTML and CSS and create as I build. I know what graphics I want to create and I prefer doing that in Fireworks. As I code, I begin to craft the design and start adding in details that make the design really come to life.

It is only recently that I have come to realize that many consider me unique. Hybrid is one of the words that someone used to describe my skills. I never thought of myself that way because most of the designers that I follow code their designs.

What are your thoughts? What word or words do you use to describe the work you do?

“Influence is immediate and free for the taking. Because of this, its utility is often short-lived. At times it may even serve as little more than a platform for duplication.

“Inspiration, on the other hand, is an on-going journey in which one continually seeks to heighten his or her awareness of design in its many shapes and forms. It is an understanding of the interplay between design and the cultural, social, and economic facets of society.

“Inspiration is not always immediate, and it has to be earned. Its utility is nurtured and harvested over time—months, even years—through personal experiences. Often it is the catalyst of true creativity.”

I think Cameron has nailed it. Much of what people call inspiration is really influence. I think there are different levels of influence and how we take that and use it to solve our design problems. Andy develops a similar idea in his article.

I think Andy is also on to something. I think he is trying to debunk some false ideas about what inspiration is. He wrote a similar article about creativity.

I agree with many of Andy’s assertions. I think that a lot of people throw around the term “inspiration” and it is creating a wrong idea of how a design professional works. It is almost the idea of having a “muse.” And what most people call inspiration is really influence–looking at design galleries. I never find “inspiration” or influence when I am looking for it.

I think what happens is that we regularly expose ourselves to different ideas and works and that becomes part of a reservoir that we can draw on.

Like other designers, I have an itch to jump right into Photoshop or Fireworks and start designing. But we really need to take the time to research so that we have solid foundation to come up with a design solution. As I think about the strategic planning process, one of the first steps is doing a situational analysis. That is really research or the result of research. You have to know the background and factors that shape the problem and also look at how others are solving similar problems. This leads to better defining the problem and the constraints for coming up with an appropriate solution. Then we can draw upon appropriate material from our design reservoir.

Now I can think of at least one time that I saw something in a design gallery that helped me right away. But I was already working on the problem and moving in a similar direction with my solution. Seeing the other solution gave me some more ideas that helped me shape my final solution.

Andy has an interesting take on what inspiration really is and I need to chew on that a bit more before I know where I agree and where I don’t.

So what is inspiration and where does it come from? Well, the antonym of inspiration is of course expiration. To expire is to end. It is the end of term or end of life. This alone makes it clear that to be inspired is to receive new life; life beyond what we already possess. This new life brings extraordinary ability, allowing us to do things we otherwise simply cannot do. So there is nothing mundane or worldly about inspiration. By definition, it is not something we already possess and might willfully tap into in our moment of need. It is something that comes most often unbidden and fills us with something beyond “us.” And what is beyond us?

It is not my main purpose here to challenge your philosophy, but there is an elephant in the middle of the room of this examination: divinity. If past response is any indication (and much to my great sadness), many of you will surely gnash your teeth and spit in derision of this fact, but the term “divine inspiration” is entirely redundant. There is no inspiration short of the divine. When you consider the fact that inspiration is something beyond ourselves breathed into us, or that we breathe in (inspire) or otherwise become filled with, and so find the ability to do what we otherwise cannot do, certain realities stare us full in the face. Unblinking. This would seem to make clear how shallow are our most common references to inspiration.

After reading this article, I am trying to decide if I feel comfortable using the word inspiration at all. Again, I want to chew on this some more. I think I like the words inform or influence better because I think they do a better job describing what is really happening in the design process. As I read in Beyond Trend, it is important as a design professional to be conscious of what sources are informing our design solutions.

Whether you call it inspiration or not, I like Cameron’s idea in that true inspiration is a collective knowledge that we accumulate over time and apply appropriately to solve our design problems. Then that collection informs or influences our design decisions.

“In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didn’t deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say ‘no’ to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world.” — Dave Caroll

This video show the importance of providing a good customer experience. United Airlines failed. And this guy has created expressed that.

What I like about this video is that it is not hateful and angry, but it is a really classy and truthful response to a frustrating  situation.

Thanks to Chris Coyier for sharing this on Twitter via The Huffington Post

Chris points out the problem with most CMSs is that they are really only useful to Web people, those who have experience with working with Web sites. WordPress is Chris’ favorite CMS and mine as well. But as I have done more development with WordPress, I see that is does fall short in really empowering content owners in the way that I would want.

A possible solution: “light” CMSs. There are a growing number of these solutions available on the market today. Several of them are free services and at least one of them costs money. One of the reasons that I like WordPress is that it is free, open source software that is continually developed. The price is right for the non-profit organization I work for.

These light CMS solutions contain less features which make them simpler, and I believe, a better user experience for the content owner.

Here are the light CMS solutions that Chris highlights in his article:

• Unify – Currently in private beta. It is a product of Unit Interactive which is headed up by Andy Rutledge, one of the designers I follow on Twitter and RSS. I was not able to take a close look at it.
• Cushy CMS – this seems to be the first player in the light CMS. It is a free service.
• Page Lime – in free public beta. It has a visual editor and reminded me of Contribute.
• Perch – I really like their Web site and they have great documentation. Perch costs about $57 per domain. You host it on your own server.

Anna Debenham reviewed Perch on this week’s Boagworld Podcast. She has also used Cushy CMS. She pointed out that the major advantage of using Perch over Cushy CMS is that the files are all hosted on your own server with Perch. She had problems with the Cushy CMS server going down which meant the service was unavailable. PageLime is also hosted on their servers.

Cushy CMS, PageLime, and Perch have videos introductions about their service and good documentation to get started. It seems pretty easy to implement any of these three solutions. Cushy CMS and PageLime involve adding classes to your HTML code. Perch involved using specific PHP tags and reminded me a lot of WordPress.

From the little research I did this afternoon, I believe that Perch would be the product that I would choose. Yes, it costs money, but the big advantage is that you don’t have to worry about another server going down that you have no control over. As I mentioned, some of it’s features remind me of WordPress. It would take more technical knowledge to setup Perch. It looks like their templating system is quite powerful and gives more control to the Web designer or developer. But the advantage it has over WordPress is it’s simpler interface for the content owner.

One final note: I really liked Perch’s site. It has nice texture and illustration. It uses JQuery for some fun animated effects. The birds in the tree at the bottom animate and move into the screen on pages where you can see the footer right away.

I saw this on DW Journal report last night. It is a very interesting look at how East Germany kept in it’s people during the Communist era.

I have a great interest in the history of communism because of my travels to Hungary. My first trip was the summer after the Wall came down. I remember very clearly watching Nightline and seeing the jubilation in Berlin when the Wall came down. It was exciting to know that I was going to be part of history as I traveled to Hungary in 1990.

When I was younger, I remember seeing a movie about a family that escaped from East Germany in a hot air balloon. If anyone knows what the title of the movie is, I would appreciate your comment.

UPDATE: I just Googled it and found out that the name of the movie is Night Crossings. I thought it was a Disney movie and I was correct.

A very telling video about what the average person is thinking when they use the Web. I listened to an interesting discussion about this subject on Sitepoint’s podcast.

I think the reason there is confusion about the difference between a browser and a search engine is the integration of search into the Web browser. Search is the function that users do the most of. I could see why they don’t understand the difference.

I believe this video is evidence that a lot of people are not so concerned about which browser they use and will probably stick with their default. Web designers are going to still have to consider IE6 for a long time and then determine what strategy to employ with IE6.

One strategy that I am investigating is Andy Clarke’s Universal IE6 CSS. I have implemented it on this site. I like the idea of serving up the user the basic content without styling.

BTW, a browser is software that you use to view Web pages. The more popular browsers include Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Chrome.

A search engine is a Web site that you use to search for things on the Internet. Two of the most popular are Google and Yahoo. Many modern Web browsers use Google when you use the Search box in the right hand corner of the browser.

Thanks for the honor, Inspiredology.

Yesterday afternoon, I received this email from raysbaseball.com. I had bought tickets over the weekend to see today’s game.

I was really impressed with the information in this email. It told me about the starting pitchers for both teams and had links to relevant statistics. There were also links to information about visiting Tropicana Field. And it was information relevant to have a better experience at the baseball game.

This is a great example of thinking beyond your Web site and having a Web strategy. It utilizes other technology means to enhance the experience of the product, a Major League baseball game.

Paul Boag recently posted 10 ways to put your content in front of more people. This email is a fine example of what Paul was mentioning.

“…attempting to describe the idea of becoming a better designer by dissecting, analyzing, and ‘copying’ the works of other designers.”

In his follow-up article, he talks about how Tony Williams, a drummer, would practice playing in the style of other drummers in order to become a better drummer himself. Cameron’s point was:

“…you become a good designer by familiarizing yourself with the methods and techniques used by those who are already good designers.”

As I read that, I thought about 2 ideas that I came across from other designers that were similar to what Tony Williams did.

1. In his book, Sexy Web Design, Elliot Jay Stocks recommended looking at the work of other Web designers and then doing a wireframe of their design in order to study layout. I had a similar idea back in December when I bought the book, The Web Designer’s Idea Book.
2. On the same day I read Cameron’s post, Chris Coyier wrote a post, Exercise to Get Better at Web Design. This article is even more in line with Tony William’s idea. Chris suggests finding a Web design you really like and then try to copy it identically. He even suggests looking for ways to put your own spin on it while you are recreating the design. Chris is not advocating design theft here but it is a similar idea to how Tony Williams would practice in the style of other drummers. Check out Chris’ article for all the steps of his suggested exercise.

A talk from SXSW on the clever things designers put in their design to add pleasure to the experience. I listened to the audio but look forward to viewing the slides since this was a very visual presentation. I would like to think more about the ideas presented here. It goes on usability to adding value to people’s experience and I am really motivated by that in design.

This Website caught my eye yesterday as I was looking through entries on CSS Mania. I posted this screenshot on Flickr. I did a pretty extensive commentary on Flickr in the summary and using the notes feature to point out different elements on the page.

What I really like about this site is the sense of dimension that it has. The designer used texture, shadow and highlights to make this design come alive. A couple of horizontal elements look like they fold behind the main content area and this adds to the illusion of dimension. I also liked the color scheme of this site.  Nice work FortySeven Media.

Sidenote – I was excited a couple of weeks ago when CSS Mania posted my design for Big-Break.com.

A couple of week ago, I read Jared Spool’s article, What Goes into a Well-Done Critique. One of Jared’s observations is that teams that felt they go the most out of critiques were those that conducted them the most. Critiques have benefits for both the designer and those looking at his or her work.

I had already been thinking that it might be helpful for us to have regular “pin-up” times where we can share our work. We could incorporate critique as part of that time.

Here is a summary of Jared’s important points:

• Respect – the person giving critique understands and acknowledges the hard work that the design owner has put into the design. There is also an awareness that it is dififcult for anyone to receive a critique of their work. Respect comes in offering critique when the design owner is ready for it. Jared does not mention this but I think respect also comes from the design owner being willing to come to times of critique with respect for the other designers and that their intent is to help improve the design.
• Dispassionate – All those involved in the critique must be able to step away from the design. the design owner understands he or she is not being judged but is helping the team to understand the journey he or she has taken to get to this design solution. The critic uses the critique to explore the different directions the design could go. This creates a learning opportunity for the team where everyone benefits.
• Lacking Authority – Critics recognize that nothing they say will change the direction of the design. Only the design owner can make that decision. Jared observes that in the best critiques he has seen, the critic never made a single recommendation. The critic asked questions and helped guide the discussion. They focused on the bigger picture. Instead of making a recommendation, the good critic might ask ,“what alternatives did you consider for …?” This keeps the conversation on the bigger picture. And the design owner may have already thought through the alternatives and deemed the one that he or she came up with as being the better of the choices. A great way to offer criticism is the phrase “have you considered…?”
• Justified Impressions and Concerns – Skilled critics avoid hollow compliments and share specifics on what they liked in a design and how it supports the direction of the design. And when offering criticism, the skilled critic justifies their concerns and show alternative examples. This allows the discussion to focus on the merits of the justifications instead of opinions of taste. By comparing design alternatives, a team can look at the essence of the design issues.

Questions to Ask Yourself during a Critique

• What did I like or enjoy about this design and why?
• What concerns me about this design and why?
• What does this design remind me of and why?

What I liked about this article is that it challenges me to be actively involved in a critique by knowing what questions to ask myself. Even if I don’t give critique, I can actively engage in the process and listen to what others might bring up.

I am also challenged as a design owner. Like everyone, I am not a huge fan of critique. It is hard to put a design out there in front of others when I have invested a lot of time and a lot of myself into the design solution. This article challenges me to recognize and remember that the purpose of critique is to make the design better and that I am part of a team that is “for me.”

Good critiquing skills are something that come with practice. After reading this article, I can see why regular times of critiquing each other’s work is beneficial for the whole team.

If you are not familar with Jared Spool and his company UIE, I suggest you check it out. He sends out a regular UIE Tips email that have great insights. I also enjoy listen to their podcasts on my commute. And if you ever get a chance, they put on a great conference in Boston. I have attended it twice.

I have been using Paparazzi! to do this but the shortcoming is that I could not take screenshots of Web applications where I had to log-in. With Screengrab, I now have tool to take screenshots inside these password-protected Web applications.

Thanks Roger (456 Berea Street)

I have been interested in this product for about 2 years. I really wish I had requested in the budget for our office a couple of years ago. Money is much tighter this year, and my personal budget cannot afford it right now. Oh, to dream what I could do if I had this.

My team leader mentioned yesterday that the fun has not been in his work recently. I feel the same way. I want to design or craft a Web page. But too many other details or meetings have taken my time.

These are all important things but design and crafting is what my heart longs to do. I want to have time to play around and try new things. That is how God has made me. I look forward to a new season when I can experience this again.

“Come back to me.” Line from The Two Towers movie that expresses my longing.

I like the different mediums that this cartoonist uses and how they help communicate his message. The Red Bull can is very appropriate for this cartoon.

For the second year, A List Apart is calling all those who make Web sites to participate in a survey that gives us a better understanding of our profession. Nearly 33,000 participated in last year’s survey, including myself.

If you are a designer, developer, project manager, writer or anyone else who helps make Web sites, I encourage you to take a couple of minutes to take the survey so that we all can get a better picture of the state of our profession.

We thought Twitter might be a good team solution to be able to keep track of our teammates. I decided that I would give it a try.

And I have jumped in headfirst. I have an extension for Firefox so it is very easy for me to update Twitter with what I am doing.

I am currently working on a new design for Campus Crusade’s Summer Mission Projects site. It is an exciting project because it is the first to be a total package. Our team is working on the promotional videos, print brochure, sticker and Web site. The video has been the lead player in determining the common design thread that will weave through all the pieces in the package.

For the Web site, I am using “real-life” elements of a desk and it’s contents and combining it with illustrations that create a fantasy world within the video.

As I have progressed with the design, the headings typography was begging to be a scripted style that fit into the theme of a sketchbook on a desk. Now I was faced with the problem of how to create those headings in a scripted font. I decided to use image replacement for navigational elements. But as I thought about it, sIFR seemed to be a good solution for the content headings instead of image replacement.

I have never used sIFR before and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a try. I found a tutorial, This is How I Got sIFR to Work. The author’s intent was to distill the “official” documentation into a simplier form. I give him kudos on accomplishing that intention.

I was very excited tonight when I finally got it to work. I had been working with it for a couple of hours last week but never had success. Now I am not always the best at following instructions so tonight, I decided to go back and go through each step. (I never follow the owner’s manual of a new electronic toy. I would rather play with it and figure it out myself.)

One of the first things I found was the swf file I created last week did not work correctly so I went back and created one according to the tutorial. Also the first time I was working through the tutorial, I did not download the latest sIFR from the place the author suggested. So as I had worked through his tutorial, several things were not matching up. That had really been frustrating. It was so much easier to have the right version and be seeing the same things the tutorial was describing.

I am so glad I stuck with learning. I think this is an appropriate and smart solution. I will not have to create images for every heading and it was also cut the download time.

I found this via The Rissington Podcast.

ASCAP Internet Music License Agreement

• understanding
• identifying
• crafting

He goes on to talk about the work that must be done under those categories and then lists some skills a designer must have and sharpen to be successful in that work. He also lists some specific skills that a Web site designer or interaction designer must have. It is a good list to check and determine where growth needs to occur.

Thanks to Cameron Moll’s Premium linkage for bringing this article to my attention.