Found this via Young Guns vs. Old Ones.

Inspiring, and a masterpiece of advertisement.

Makes me wonder how differently Apple were thinking when they announced Ping their new social network for music.

Despite championing HTML5 it would seem Apple have now decided a web browser (even Safari) is inferior to the almighty monolith that is iTunes. Ping is completely walled off. Why it doesn’t have a web interface I have no idea. It’s social without the riff-raff. Or Apple-friendly mainstream artists without the indie bands.

The problem with the interface of iTunes Store & Ping is that by all accounts it generally sucks (ignoring Steve’s opinion). It doesn’t behave or interact in the same way as a website. But it should be a website. Instead it’s confusing, fiddly, tedious, awkward; proprietary nonsense. Now that is thinking differently.

To quote Apple on HTML5:

These web standards are open, reliable, highly secure, and efficient. They allow web designers and developers to create advanced graphics, typography, animations, and transitions. Standards aren’t add-ons to the web. They are the web. And you can start using them today.

“Standards aren’t add-ons to the web. They are the web.” But apparently not good enough for iTunes and Ping? I guess those two are just add-ons then. Only available in certain countries.

Good job Apple make awesome ads.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to play Angry Birds on my iPhone. For four hours.

Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey” are epic. Beowulf is epic. The design you saw last night on Dribbble is not epic.

Funny and true. I’m guilty of this myself, despite vowing a very long time ago never to write a blog titled “30 Incredibly Awesome Epic Web Designs” or anything remotely similar. I only bring this up because I may need to justify myself in a few minutes…

Anyway to the main feature.

When I’ve not been at work, I’ve been ‘hard at work’ designing and building a brand new website called LoveDsgn. Here’s the elevator pitch:

LoveDsgn is a new social website for designers, typographers, all kinds of creative people. It’s a platform for sharing, discussing and improving your creative output.

What makes this different from other ‘social portfolio’ websites is that LoveDsgn actively encourages constructive feedback. The focus is on typography and writing on creativity (you can showcase your articles too). A large 640×360 canvas is available to display work with each post. Ultimately the site is curated by the members and they’ll dictate the content and features to come.

It’s been a real slog finding time to get LoveDsgn ready to launch but it’s here now! Thanks to the 300+ community that have helped so far. They’re the people that will make this website a great place to visit, not me.

Returning to the article linked above I feel I need to justify using the word “Love”. For designers like myself and those posting on LoveDsgn this stuff is our day job and our hobby. Design is not a 9-5 job. It’s impossible to do if you’re not incredibly passionate and obsessed about everything related to the subject. Therefore the word “love” is rather accurate in my opinion.

As for the trendy vowel removal in “Dsgn”, well that was for brevity’s sake (and I already owned the domain). We’re also using the domain http://♥dsgn.ws for short URLs. I think that’s pretty cool.

The design that has been posted on LoveDsgn so far has been outstanding (and I feel justified to use that word too). I’m really excited about the way the community is shaping itself, so if you haven’t visited yet, check out lovedsgn.com.

Well, this month has answered a few of those questions!

On August 16th Adobe announce they will be partnering with Typekit to offer Adobe fonts through the service. This includes the not too shabby Adobe Garamond Pro, the legendary Myriad and the always usable News Gothic, and Trajan (Hollywood will love that). With the portfolio size of Adobe I’m genuinely surprised they haven’t launched their own priority web font service. I imagine they’re testing the water, once the money starts rolling I predict this is exactly what they’ll do.

Yesterday brought with it the announcement of  WebType.com - another web font service backed by Font Bureau and Ascender Corp.

Led by Font Bureau and Ascender Corp., Webtype.com introduces a new range of web fonts optimized for high quality text rendering across browsers. Webtype.com launches an innovative web font service to improve web typography.

Inspired stuff, and it packs a hefty fee. Unlike Typekit you’re not buying access to a library of fonts – you’re paying for just one. With Typekit it’s impossible to pay more than $99 a year (for full library access and unlimited font/site usage). With Webtype that won’t even buy you News Gothic Regular on their top license “Business Plan”.

Wait…didn’t Adobe just announce News Gothic as one of their flagship fonts on Typekit?

Regardless of who is selling what, the big question is now on price. If Webtype is successful how long do you think Adobe will remain loyal to Typekit?

A few months ago Google launched the Google Font API providing a great selection of embeddable free fonts. Of course, if the font is free you can go ahead an embed it directly. Though using a content delivery network like Google provides can have an advantage.

If free is not your flavour, you could also choose the moderately priced FontDeck which has a curious selection of smaller foundries who seem quite content to band together selling yearly licenses on a per-font basis, in a similar manner to Webtype.

All this variety is to be excepted with a brand new market. Time will tell which model will be most successful (I’m guessing this cheapest).

The crazy thing with all these web font services is that you’re only buying access to a font for one year. If you don’t cough up more cash the next year they will switch it off and you’re left with Arial or Georgia as your fall-back.

To be honest with the exception of possibly Typekit these pricing plans are ridiculous. With a few websites in your portfolio you’ll be paying hundreds of pounds annually. That’s ludicrous if you consider many of these font designs are in public domain. That’s why both Typekit and Webtype can offer News Gothic and why there are a million and one flavours of Garamond floating around. I’m all for paying designers a fair price, but when they died in 1561…

So in an effort to balance the love I present a run down of all the brilliant creativity I’ve been blogging about over the last few months.

Favourites of June

Hayaku: A Time Lapse Journey Through Japan – In the summer of 2009 Brad Kremer shot a series of time lapse videos around Japan’s urban and rural areas. The result is this stunning, beautiful and tranquil video.

I’M COMIC SANS, ASSHOLE – Mike Lacher delivers an hilarious monologue embodying everyone’s favourite typeface, Comic Sans.

Retinart – The blog of Alex Charchar, an Australian graphic designer with a passion for exploring and reflecting upon creativity.

Favourites of July

The Mid-Century Modernist – a website dedicated to the inspiration of the modernist art movement between 1945 and 1970. The latest update is a great feature on the TV show Mad Men.

Andrew Kim – An incredibly talented young product design student. I predict a very bright future for this kid! The next Jony Ive?

Yiying Lu – graphic designer and illustrator, famous for creating the twitter “fail whale”. Her work maintains a level of sophistication while remaining colour and full of life.

Favourites of August (so far)

Bradley Castaneda – a US designer and photographer from the greater Seattle area demonstrating professional talent in both photography and graphic design – one of the exceptional few!

Christian Knopf – the fantastic multi-discipline portfolio of a German based art director and designer. His website is a perfect example of combining Flash and web standards to create a visual and accessible portfolio.

And a shout out to…

This summer has also been a wonderful few months for my personal website (dbushell.com). I’ve been featured on many websites including The CSS Awards, Web Creme, The Design Inspiration and Design Shack to name drop a few!

You can follow my daily design blogging at DesignHeroes.co.uk (and @dbushell).

His blog post “Dribbble Etiquette” explains further:

Except a few people on Dribbble still don’t get it.  They don’t get the point.  So with that in mind, I present Dribbble Etiquette: The Guide to not being a Douche on Dribbble. It seems some players think Dribbble is all about sharing your own opinion, pissing on the good work of others, and giving your type/color/contrast opinion where it doesn’t belong.

It’s been entertaining to read what is sure to be the most commented Dribbbling ever, especially because the whole community has whole-heartedly disagreed with his opinion*. Most comentators were quick to refer to the official About Dribbble page that specifically mentions feedback in its six point guide.

Sounds to me like someone got their feelings hurt in the past. It really isn’t easy to consume feedback. When you want to impress your peers and you receive criticism it always hurt a tiny bit, no matter how constructive it is. If you’re posting your work on Dribbble for self-promotional purposes (and we all are), don’t go crying about “etiquette” when someone decides to use the built in feedback feature. Should they choose to click the proverbial ‘like’ button, well, that’s just fine obviously.

Now, I didn’t post this to simply make fun of Jason because he does make one good point. I can understand him getting confused over the purpose of Dribbble because in truth it really isn’t geared very well towards receiving certain types of constructive feedback.

When we present design work to clients what do we ask them? To consider the context of the work. To put personal subjective opinion aside and think about who the end-users are and what the design aims to achieve. We spend hours talking to them and understanding their motivations behind the brief.

What we don’t do is present a 400 x 300 porthole of a screenshot.

What we also don’t do is ask them about the intricacies of type kerning, of colour theory, of technical skill. That is what our peers are for and why we congregate on sites like Dribbble.

The moral of this story?

Continue using Dribbble however you want. Ignore feedback if for whatever reason you think it doesn’t belong. Just don’t try to tell the community what it should or should not be doing, you’re only going to sound like a “Douche on Dribbble”.

* Update! Bryan Conner blogged an interesting (and predictable) graph visualising the comments of this particular Dribbble.

Today Smashing Magazine published a great article by Thomas Giannattasio, “In Defense of Photoshop“. He raises the point that:

Photoshop can be used to create impeccable designs, but after hours of hard work, you end up with a static mock-up that is incapable of emulating the experience one gets when the design is converted to mark-up and viewed in the browser.

And this would be my main point if I were to articulate an argument on why web designers should be able to code. Simply put, if you can’t code and don’t understand HTML and CSS - you are not designing a website.

In the article linked above Giannattasio makes an excellent feature suggestion for Photoshop allowing users to ‘shop semantically closer to the DOM and CSS properties available. I don’t know why Adobe haven’t been innovating features like this for years. It would definitely aid those ‘web designers’ who can’t code. It would simplfy things for pros too but in truth a professional web designer should be able to:

• Keep a running mental visualisation of the DOM as the design evolves.
• Understand the limitations of HTML/CSS and browser quirks.
• Know exactly what mark-up and styling will be needed to create each element.
• Know exactly how raster images will be implemented.
• Know exactly how the page is going to flow and transform at different resolutions.

If you can’t do these things you are not designing a website. Don’t blame the tools. While the CSS idea in Photoshop could be helpful it isn’t necessary (or relevant to the software). You should already know what techniques to use to mimic CSS (hint: blending options, not filters).

There are many comments on Giannattasio’s article suggesting that ‘design’ should be an entirely different step to ‘development’. From the clients point of view this is true but from a production point of view it doesn’t really matter. If you know how to build a website you can design one freely in whatever software suits you.

Understand development and you can realise greater potential with design.

1. Instill confidence

The client is paying you because they can’t do the job themselves. They want to know that you can deliver. Help them understand your design process and relieve them of any concerns. I’ve wrote more about some of the techniques I use in strategy meetings in this post: Finding the right style. I’d be interesting in what you do, so leave a comment!

2. Focus on an end-user perspective

As designers we have grown up with an artistic mind. We look at the world differently and understand how people react to visual things. On top of that we have a design education. We know what works in different situations and for different types of people. The client knows better than anyone who their end-users are. Get these two areas of knowledge flowing in conversation and you have all the criteria you need for design critique and you’ll both be confident of the design direction.

3. Ask questions, then ask them again

Have you ever walked into a small DIY store and asked where the nails are? The owner will ask you “what type of nail are you after?”. When you stare blankly at him he’ll smile and ask “what do you plan to do with the nail?”. Notice how he changed the question to one you can answer? In doing so he gets the information he needs to help you.

These type of people have a wealth of experience in their trade. They also tend to be common folk like me! Down to earth and friendly. When they establish you haven’t got a clue what you’re doing they know how to take a different approach. If a client isn’t giving you feedback it’s because you aren’t asking the right questions. Never assume they’re happy or unhappy with a design if your first question falls on deaf ears.

Missing the targets

Designers are a different breed. Most of us are egotistical stuck-up artistes. See Clients from Hell for example – many of those snippets would fit better on a blog called “Designers from Hell”. I’d take a wild guess that 90% of these situations occur because the designer failed to aim for any of the targets above. What results is the client feeling lost with no confidence in the designer and process. The client has a responsibility for the project and feels they must take authoritative control. Frustration is served up to everyone involved and eventually shit design is delivered. The designer then bitches about the client.

See the problem here? It is very rarely (if ever) the clients fault a project ends in disappointment. As designers it is part of our job to understand and manage that client-designer relationship. Get it right from the start and this situation is avoided.

These are by no means the only targets you need to consider but they definitely get me on the right track. With ongoing experience they start to become second nature and you can think beyond them to other techniques. I’ve heard mountains of buffet and champaign works well too.

I’d love to hear how you approach the client-designer relationship! Leave a comment below.

I just love when massive websites make a big change. The best part is reading all the positive and negative comments, especially those people who chime in with their expert opinion. Have they crunched thousands of hours of analytic and UX testing data to make assertive comments on the new design? I doubt it. But people don’t like change and that can sometimes be a big enough reason to affect design direction.

In this case it really isn’t though. BBC know what they’re doing. Which makes comments like this all the more entertaining:

Hate the new look. Will start looking elsewhere for my news content.

Here’s some design consultancy provided for free:

Quick tip, it doesn’t have to look flash to be good. Plain and simple is always best.

Ha! “Quick tip,” is such a brilliant way to start. Can you get anymore condescending?

I am been a web designer for 16 years.. I know what I am talking about.

“I am been”? You don’t even know what you’re saying right now! I could go on but there are too many ridiculous comments to mention, read them all here.

Hopefully this illustrates the point of avoiding the dreaded design by committee. There are several suggestions of “should of had a poll”, a poll of who? Many people are resorting to the old “SOMEBODY THINK OF THE LICENSE FEES!”. Are the BBC suppose to poll all license fee payers every time they do anything at all?

Can you name a major website that has involved every single person clambering for their opinion to be heard? No you can’t, because those projects never get finished. They get run into the ground. Every ounce of logic and creativity gets squeezed out trying to please everyone.

This doesn’t mean the design process should be done behind closed doors. There are many ways to involved key decision makers and target audiences, and I’m willing to bet the BBC know more about this than most.

A few people out there have a little sense:

I have worked in newspapers for nearly 35 years. At EVERY design change, we were flooded with letters and phone calls from people who hated the new look. If we spoke to any at length, we always found, without exception, that what they hated was not the new look but change.

Quick update – here’s a cool link on the BBC News design history with screenshots dating back to 1999 – we’ve come a long way!

While studying design it’s easy to get trapped inside a small world. It takes time and realisation to understand and really know the industry you’re planning to work in. A good work placement is enlightening and the first year in a job gives you a perspective on the design community as a whole. Design conferences, talks and networking are all great, but let’s face it there’s not nearly enough time or money for enough of those things.

I guess what I value most is first hand opinion. The way I’ve learnt to connect to the design world is through that much loved phrase “social media”. Following personal and professional design blogs and tweeting designers is hugely beneficial to gaining design knowledge, inspiration, motivation, perspective and critique. In fact, I’d say it’s essential.

Why I blog

For those reasons I blog about design myself. I write my personal ideas here at dbushell.com and @dbushell, and I write about other peoples ideas at Design Heroes. All of these websites have transformed over the last year in the way I use them but the aim remains the same – to share, discuss, inform (hopefully) and promote.

Ego trip aside writing a design blog is a powerful tool in self-education. It engages your brain into thinking about design and encourages research. Writing about design you like forces you to open your eyes further than normal. Simply browsing showcases and portfolios isn’t enough. When you write about design you are forced to think about what makes it so special instead of just thinking “that’s pretty”.

I could go on but Take a Journey of Inspiration by Alex Charchar says it far more eloquently than I ever could.

Despite the social stigma from people who don’t “get it”, Twitter is an amazing way to communicate with fellow designers. From design news to the latest hot topics, to the upcoming events and everything in-between Twitter guarantees you’re up to speed. At the same time you’re making casual connections to designers around the world. It’s also a nice feeling when a senior creative with far more experience than yourself choses to follow you. It’s important to remember that Twitter isn’t your Facebook status; meaning people may actually read and care about what you’re posting (note to self).

From the feedback I get on this site and my other online ventures blogging continues to be a immensely rewarding experience. You could say it’s an extension to my profession as a designer.

I encourage you all to blog about design!

(and delete your Facebook account – Facebook is a truly evil company!)

And I don’t own a MacBook Pro or any laptop for that matter.

Despite the less than ideal morning I do try and spend half an hour getting up to speed with the design world. Google Reader is my aggregator of choice. The problem with RSS readers it that everything becomes so stale, so “Google” in my case. Design blogs have a habit of being rather attractive. For that reason any article that grabs my attention in the RSS feed gets opened properly before reading commences.

My favourite design related blog has to be Creative Review. The articles are informative and the subsequent user discussion is outstanding (for Internet standards). The CR blog never fails to provoke humour, controversy, and a touch of wit from the many commentators. If you normally blank out comments (see YouTube) this blog will return your faith in the English language.

Another blog I visit often is the BBC Internet Blog. It’s BBC website biased obviously (which happens to be a bloody good website and a very good investment of license fees). There are many parts of the BBC’s online world that are exceptional and their Internet blog is a great behind-the-scenes look.

Brand New needs no further praise. I drop everything I’m doing when this one updates. Hopefully I’m not sipping my tea at that exact time.

When I’m interested in product and packaging design I’ll see what’s new at Yanko Design and Packaging UQAM . As I’m a graphic/web designer by trade these two blogs will often induce the “I wish I could do that” type of design envy. For illustration, digital art and photography I check out the likes of Cowlor and Oh, Snap!

Perhaps the most peculiar blog residing in my RSS reader is Pencil Talk. I don’t know why because I rarely check it, but I feel I might miss out on something ground breaking one day if I ever remove it…

I carry around many of the other big name blogs which I’m sure everyone already knows about. The other 90% of my feed consists of personal blogs from other designers. I plan to do a bigger showcase of my favourites soon! After my RSS reader has had a good shake down I’ll briefly check the last 12 hours of my twitter feed. I’ll be sure to find a few gems linked there.

And that’s my design morning.