Responsive Design Warrants a Change in Workflow
Change the Workflow
Responsive design warrants a change in design workflow. The days of slapping together a Photoshop comp, getting it approved, and then coding are over.
This is is a waste of time.
There are too many hurdles and platforms to test. Things need to be flexible. Setting a design in stone as “final” is too limiting with so many devices to support.
Design the Code
Designers should know how to code. This has been a core belief of mine since 2007. It is even more important today as it was then.
In the past, the advice was so that designers would know the limitations ( browser size, internet speeds, literally programming limitations, etc… ) and design with those in mind. Do not create the impossible to achieve. That is not an excuse to innovate. It is simply design with constraints.
With responsive design, decisions have to be made midroute, “Oh these images do not scale properly on iPad”. Or for example, “Oh no, mobile Safari has a weird rendering bug,” and adjust on the fly.
As Mike Monteiro states in Design Is a Job:
We were making quicker and better decisions because design and development were informing each other. Had I attempted to mock up all of those responsive states and then hand them to Jim to code, those mistakes would have been baked in…
And he goes on:
We often comp just enough to figure out what it is we’re building, which is why we don’t include Photoshop comps in our final deliverables…Don’t spend time updating paintings when what the client paid for was a website.
A comp should be a mini style guide for the project, which will determine the overall basic look and feel. Not for placement, button elements, or other finite details. Those can be hashed out during the coding process; when rubber hits the road and see what really works best.
Related
Branding You
Glut of Media
We live in a time of a hyper influx of information. There is only so much we can consume on a daily basis. Part of that reality requires us to be able to process interactions accordingly.
With the advent of social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest, and Email ( yes ), we are bombarded with a constant stream of information.
In the ever evolving business world, slowly corporations have adapted and “jumped on board” to promote their brands on these various outlets.
Our feeds, Facebook for example, are now cluttered with posts from brands that we have “liked”. This adds to the noise of the things that we truly care about. At a deep level, they irritate us with mental distraction.
Seeking Clarity Amidst the Noise
Awhile back, I decided to literally “unlike” all but a few pages that interested me. These add to the noise. And it has to be limited.
Likewise with Twitter, all actual brands have been removed from my “following” list. There are now 318 hand picked people that I follow.
Building Trust
People are the strongest representation of a brand. Positive or negative.
Frank Eliason from Comcast started “Comcast Cares” in an effort to curb negative feedback from tweets.
After years of “marketing” we seek something honest and true. People flocked to Frank because they were dealing with a real person. Not a persona. But an actual human. We crave interaction.
The selected people that I follow on Twitter represent their individual brand. And if they choose to disclose, it also is an extension of their corporate brand ( startup, company, app, team, etc. ).
In turn, I trust a corporation that trusts it’s people. Pick the right people and I’ll be loyal. No amount of marketing will ever buy you that.
This is the new standard.
Linchpin
There are very few books that I can say truly changed my life. Linchpin by Seth Godin is one of those books.
This book means so much to me and has so impacted my life that I’m purchasing copies for close friends, family, and others that I think may benefit from it. I cannot stress how important the concepts it presents have become to me.
Life changing indeed.
Spoiler Alert
Honestly, it is hard to write a review for the book. The way that it unravels itself, building step by step, upon previous concepts, to give details ahead of time would spoil the “surprise” of enlightenment.
The concepts presented resonated with glimpses of discoveries that I had made in the past. Yet it shined so much more light on them.
You will learn how to deal with anxiety, remove barriers from really achieving what you want in life, and how to push through to completion. All the while, truly enjoying the journey of life and “the work”.
In my opinion, this is Seth Godin’s best work.
Pick up a copy. You’ll wish you read it sooner. I did.
Steve Jobs, Thank You.
You Will Be Missed.
I almost didn’t write this post. Emotionally, I wasn’t sure if I could. Steve Jobs passed away yesterday; he will be missed by many. I never thought a public figure’s death would touch my heart as it has. I cried at the news. I’ve shed tears reading how Steve impacted others lives. Steve had a great impact on me and on this world. He made a dent in the universe.
As a kid I played with Macs yet grew up in a primarily Windows world. I remember the first Mac that I bought. It was a Power PC version of the Mac Mini. That is when I knew I was hooked. The attention to detail, smooth operating system and logic that “just worked” struck a cord within me.
A few years ago, I worked part time at an Apple retail store. The experience was amazing; it was one that I will never forget. The level of detail that was involved in training, operating and staffing the store impressed me. Obsessive.
Steve taught me to be detail oriented, expect the best and never settle for less. That has inspired me to do great work. And has given me the frustration that comes from second rate craftsmanship. Produce greatness.
For Steve Jobs. Rest in Peace.On 10/6/11 — I wore a black t-shirt, jeans, and grey sneakers in his honor.
My favorite quote so far:
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do,”
“If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.” -Steve Jobs
I will live my life by the above. Thanks Steve
One More Thing
The following articles touched my heart yesterday. I want to share them with you. Enjoy.
Strengths Finder 2.0
Book Review
I was recently recommended to give the book Strengths Finder 2.0 a quick read. It is very much a short read but worth it indeed. The book shows you the importance of building your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses.
Recommended to get it on Kindle format as your online code is emailed immediately.
It includes an online code to take Gallup’s StrengthsFinder quiz, which reveals your top 5 strengths. I won’t go into all of mine, but my first one was incredible: Ideation.
Ideation’s theme description, “People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.”
Each theme gives you “Ideas for Action” to show you possible next steps that match your strength. A few of mine were:
Seek a career in which you will be given credit for and paid for your ideas, such as marketing, advertising, journalism, design, or new product development.
Incredible because my job history consists of working on marketing teams, in the advertising industry, and am currently on a product development / management team. In my free time I love to blog, study many types of design. Skill wise I excel in User Experience, User Interface, and Interaction design. Amazing. This also reinforces that I’m on the right path.
You are likely to get bored quickly, so make some small changes in your work or home life. Experiment. Play mental games with yourself. All of these will help keep you stimulated.
This is very true. I blog my weight loss journey, keep goal progress spreadsheets in Google Docs, and archive everything in Evernote. I’m always experimenting and trying to better myself. Keeping track allows me measure progress yet I’m consistently making small changes.
Finish your thoughts and ideas before communicating them. Lacking your Ideation talents, others might not be able to “join the dots” of an interesting but incomplete idea and thus might dismiss it.
I find myself even having to do this in conversation. Many times my mind will be all over the place. Three things at once. I have to pause, put everything together in sequential order, and then relay the information.
This book has inspired me in so many ways. More posts to come that expound on a few ideas I’ve been developing. Grab this book as soon as you can. You won’t regret it.