Viget Inspire

In my "Breaking Bad Habits in Photoshop" post, I briefly talked about Photoshop's Smart Objects. It seems like many designers are still ignoring them. Maybe you're confused about how and when to use them, or too ingrained in your existing ways of doing things to explore. I sympathize. But whatever the excuse, if you aren't using Smart Objects for your comps you're missing out. They are an easy way to save yourself from tedious maintenance tasks in your Photoshop docs. Keep reading for ideas on speeding up your workflow with smart use of Smart Objects.

Continue reading "Genius Ways To Use Photoshop Smart Objects"

Leave a comment ( 27 )

Recently, some people have asked me how we build ExpressionEngine sites. Although how we build a site varies with each project, there are definitely certain add-ons we find ourselves using all the time. There are so many great ones out there (and new ones being released all the time) I thought it would be cool to share some of them in a blog post. Feel free to add your comments about the ones you like to use.

Continue reading "Insanely Awesome ExpressionEngine Tools You Can’t Live Without"

Leave a comment ( 31 )

Since "The Mysterious Save For Web Color Shift," I've received 200 comments and weekly emails about the theory. Thanks to readers, I've learned a lot about the original issue, and (perhaps, more importantly) how to explain it.

TO RECAP: In the post, I suggested dumping some of Photoshop's color management settings (by choosing your monitor profile in Color Settings) and saving without ICC profiles. These settings make it hard to predict how your final colors will appear on the web, or even between browsers. The strongest responses pointed out that, in fact, ICC profiles are awesome, and they do a great service for photographers and illustrators who want to faithfully present their colors. I countered that from a practical web-design standpoint these profiles do more harm than good — and, well, things just kept going and going for a while.

I wanted to post a follow-up consolidating all knowledge on the subject and declaring my Lofty And Supreme Rightness (and perhaps immediately turning off comments, thus securing said Rightness), but the emails we've received have led me in a different direction. Most referenced difficulty applying the settings, testing them, or even understanding the original mechanics of the problem.

In writing my responses, I found myself testing more and explaining less, trying to show a simple list of results to clarify the problem. I started sending PSDs for readers to poke around with, then refining these into a single chart. The chart attempts to explain what differences the settings make, and what their advantages/drawbacks might be.

Continue reading "Save For Web, Simply"

Leave a comment ( 17 )

Let me start by saying I'm not one of those super tech-minded designers who loves to dive into new programs. Especially when those programs involve heavy use of the command line and every tutorial written about them is so technical it might as well be in another language. I was happily tooling along using Tortoise SVN through VMWare, slooooowwwwwly moving through my SVN checkouts without much complaint. And then two of our developers, David and Ben, pulled me aside one day and told me that instead of using SVN, I'd be using Git for our next big project. I remember sitting in Ben's office thinking, "Crap... what kind of learning curve does this thing come with?" I barely knew what I was doing with version control in SVN, and here I was faced with the prospect of a new (and arguably less n00b-friendly) program and process.

Continue reading "Git: A Designer’s Perspective"

Leave a comment ( 14 )

I think it's safe to say that a decent number of designers out there listen to music while they are working. I know that I'm not alone in my habits of putting the good ol' headphones on, blocking out the world and zoning in on a design comp. Music helps me focus on the task at hand, keeps me from getting distracted, and generally get me revved up. You could basically say that music is my taskmaster as well as my design co-pilot.

I've always used music in this way, whether it be for design work or getting my yearly taxes in order (White Stripes can ease the number crunching pain).  However a few years ago I saw a video of an artist that permanently changed the way I approach my music listening while designing.

Continue reading "Adding Music to Your Design Toolbox"

Leave a comment ( 4 )

There she is. That's Bertha, the elephant-in-the-room that you call your design. You've been staring at this design for enough time now that you're either satisfied where you are or unsure what to do next.

Without feedback from others, you're counting on yourself to be responsible for questions like: Are you meeting client expectations? Will users know what to do or where to go when they hit your page? Will your web design be easy to build? Will search engines help people find you?

These are questions that we don't always think about when we're designing until it's too late. That's a lot of pressure to rely on yourself for. Maybe it's time to get some feedback from the designer sitting next to you. Better yet, why not get some design feedback from a non-designer?

Continue reading "Taming the Elephant: Design Critiques With Non-designers (plus a printable cheat sheet)"

Leave a comment ( 7 )

The words "accessibility" and "508 compliance" are are thrown around frequently these days, but as a designer it can be unclear how the practice directly pertains to your role in visual design. Sorting through all the hubbub, I would like to take the opportunity to clarify why accessibility should matter to you as a designer, and how you can champion the practice without compromising your design.

Continue reading "A Designer’s Guide To Accessibility and 508 Compliance"

Leave a comment ( 5 )