While I was in college I took a ton of art classes. One of my favorite courses was my oil painting course. The amount of technical skill I developed was incredible. It helped me to refocus how I approach art and my craft. One of the most valuable things I learned, and took away with...
I once worked with a designer who held a great disdain for creative reviews. They believed that there should be no single person providing feedback, comments or approvals for overall creative design strategies. The designer felt that this approach was authoritarian and dictates a single design vision that gives too much power to one person....
Design isn’t about hanging the curtains (metaphorically speaking) and making something “feel” the way it is intended. Design is about balance. It’s about the solutions of form and function and making something work perfectly the way it was intended. Part of how something looks and makes you feel is very important to the balance of...
Many times I find myself thinking back to early influences and things I did at a young age that somehow birthed this creative curious spirit I celebrate each day. I think about when I would sit in my room and draw cartoon characters over and over again. I think about how I would write radio...
The term “responsive design” is dead. The web extends far beyond desktop browsers anymore and we exist in a world where multiple devices are growing on a consistent basis. Designing for the web today, without question, means designing responsively. Anything less is not good design, ignoring your users, and an old-world concept of the web...
There comes a time where you must abandon everything you think you know, understand and believe about life. You have to step back and reevaluate what in the hell you are doing here. Everyday you wake up with a chance to live, love, create and find a new adventure. Life is too short to be...
I sat in a room with a group of designers. I quietly listened as they talked back and forth about a design decision that one designer had done. These designers became very prescriptive about providing feedback. One suggestion and diagnoses to fix the design after another. Every designer chimed in with their personal taste and...
The grid is visual music to the web. It provides rhythm, tempo and harmony within a page. The symphony of the grid provides a beautiful experience for a design. Before I was into design, I grew up playing music. At a young age I took piano lessons, played drums and picked up a guitar. In...
One time I was invited to a meeting where leaders were discussing the next steps around a holistic responsive design approach. I was invited to the meeting last minute, but I was brought in as the organizational leader on the subject matter. So I was anxious to hear what was to be said and also...
This is pretty “stream of thought”. I’m going Jack Kerouac on this article. I’ll be honest, I’ve spent the good half of the past decade designing things for the validation and admiration of others. I wanted my work to be loved and adored by other designers. I wanted to be invited to speaking events and...