PUBLIC MARKS from sbrothier with tags thoughts & webdesign

The web and its related disciplines have grown organically. I think it’s safe to say the web is not the domain of just the geeks anymore—we all live here. And those of us who work here should have sophisticated, native tools to do our jobs.

3 Dimensional Thinking for Web Designers 3D Slides from a presentation given by Mike Kus. The Future of Web Design 2009 / New York.

For all of the advantages the web has with distribution of content, I’ve always lamented the handiness of the WYSIWYG design tools from the print publishing world. When I set out to redesign my personal website, I wanted to have some of the same abilities that those tools have, laying out pages how I saw fit, and that meant a flexible system for dealing with imagery.

However… I consider myself fairly competent in HTML & CSS. But even I am limited in design by starting with code before having a few design ideas fleshed out. I have advocated in the past that HTML and even CSS are not design tools. They are tools used to implement design. There’s a big difference.

A Brief Message features design opinions expressed in short form. Somewhere between critiques and manifestos, between wordy and skimpy, Brief Messages are viewpoints on design in the real world. They’re pithy, provocative and short — 200 words or less. A Brief Message is an edited publication. The staff solicits Brief Messages from individuals of all walks of design life. A Brief Message publishes weekly. We monitor comments (also not exceeding 200 words) and reserve the right to keep discussions on topic. All Brief Messages are the sole property of their respective authors. A Brief Message reserves the right to reprint or publish, online or off, all Brief Messages and their comments.

I’ve only been out of school and working in the industry for a few years now, but I can already feel it. The feeling like my hands are getting tied. Like I am coming up with the same old ideas or dipping into my overused bag of tricks too often. I am left racking my brain for new directions and feeling like the design world will surely leave me behind to make way for today’s new design youth. You might laugh because it’s only been a few years, but this is where it begins.

These bits of inspiration are culled from interface designers, architects, authors, jazz greats, and more. What brings them together here is their affinity to our design philosophy.

Designing a website is like designing a sex chair. You can gather all the objective data you like from the most comprehensive of studies, but if you’ve not had sex in a chair – in a variety of different chairs - and fully and intuitively appreciate the various issues of, let’s say, alignment and accessibility (ahem), you’ve no business designing that chair. Put another way, if you ain’t feelin’ it, neither will anyone else.

Who you work with is your choice and has a huge impact on your happiness, productivity, quality, and the future of your business.