Work, in Plain English

Anders Toxboe has put together a beautifully organized thinking place for web designers and user interface designers. Go there to reference screenshots, design patterns and practical articles. Better yet, join the community and upload your personal favorite user interface screenshots.

Very similar to this site is Pattern Tap. I suggest you check out each of them and decide which is your favorite (or join both).

Other good design pattern sites are:
Janko Jovanovic’s Janko at Warp Speed
Peer-written journal, Boxes and Arrows
The venerable Yahoo! Design Pattern Library

And finally, spend some time with (and bookmark) this delightful Smashing Magazine post on mathematics in web design.

The other night, we got a last-minute chance to see our friends perform in a neighborhood production of Les Miserables.

I had a blast shooting to the rhythm of stage lights and beautiful kids.

See the rest of the Flickr set here.

A key part of getting yourself inspired is noticing when something is dragging you down.

Reading a creative journal (such as a design annual) can spark ideas, but not always. Sometimes it can be a weighty tome of trendiness, or worse – mediocrity. Bottom line: Hold to what you know inspiration feels like, and keep up the search until you get that feeling.

To paraphrase the provocative (read: can of worms) definitions over at Dictionary.com, to be inspired means to be brought to the state where we can and will bring something into being. (It also means to inhale – to breathe. Is that why a simple walk outdoors can get the proper juices flowing?)

So check in with yourself. If what you’re doing to seek inspiration is not getting you moving (and breathing), do something else.

Very important: I didn’t say resist. If your day presents you with an uninspiring situation, deal with it. Example: I just found out my son’s swim class wasn’t canceled due to rain. Bye-bye $25. I was stuck in Grinch-mode until I remembered to just be ticked off: From there, it took another minute or two to admit it was my own fault for not reading this week’s class email. Again. That made the blame bit an easier bridge to cross, back over to curiosity, a sense of humor… and look! I’m thinking about inspiration again.

Some smart folks at .net are starting a revolution.

Don’t you just love revolutions?

Overheard this while working in a cafe today:

On her way back from the ladies’ room with Mommy, a 3-year-old cutie asks, “Mommy, can we text Natalie?”

Mommy: “I don’t have my cell phone.”

Cutie: “I do.”

I think this would make a nice postcard, or something.

Splashing Lemon photo by Christopher Pattberg, purchased on iStockphoto.

For selection of quality images and the power to organize lightboxes, iStockphoto is still my top choice. I’ve been wondering about the value of my beloved lightboxes, and how iStock might partner with users to further benefit from them.

In the meantime, though, I suspect a lot of iStockphoto users have at least one lightbox of photos and illustrations saved for no other reason than they wanted to look at them again. I’ve ended up using one or two in a project, but mostly I visit them like a little bedside album.

I call my special lightbox, “for me”, and thought this would be a good place to occasionally share some, supporting the artists with a purchase and photo credits.

My personal title for this photo is, Caught Loving.

Kisses for Mom, by quavondo (to purchase, click on the image)

“winning the race”, by DOConnell (to purchase, click on the image)

Sleeping baby 3, by Bradley Mason (to purchase, click on the image)

It’s easy to stay focused on the objectives of a 6-to-8 week project. For example, a current site redesign includes objectives for building revenue from specific sources and strengthening the current community. It’s those 6+ month projects that can drag the team’s attention away… to things like checking off the task list, interruptions for smaller requests, and working around vacation schedules.

At the moment, my simple solution, and promise to myself, is to review project objectives every Monday morning. I’ll be starting this coming week, and expect to scan work to date to make sure it’s still doing that fundamental job.

I’d love to hear how others keep their sights on a project’s objectives over the long haul… Comments?

The best part is the silent moments as interviewees search for words—vulnerable, human faces. I showed this to my son, and would like you to see it, too.

After I posted this note, I happened to rediscover Only Human, “a community where people share stories publicly or anonymously about mistakes they’ve made in life and their advice to others.” Not a lot of recent posts, but I wonder what would happen if they created an area for project post mortems.

To inspire great design, don’t teach design processes. A fixed set of design steps is more likely to stifle the unexpected bursts of breakthrough insight that newer designers can contribute to a project.

Instead, consider offering design challenges that help them discover and develop their own processes.

Here are some challenge ideas (always starting with acknowledgment):

1. Great layout! Do you think you can show me an alternate color palette within [tight deadline]?

2. Cool typeface! If we keep using it, we’ll need secondary and body faces that complement it. Wrap up this piece, and then let’s meet in three days with your suggestions.

3. Your banner ad generated 2.2% conversion! What do you think did it?