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Written by David Charney
Posted: June 2, 2008 (2 months, 3 weeks ago) | 0 comments
Well the first RIApalooza event has come and gone and I must say I enjoyed it. This two day event had good speakers, good topics, a nice mix of theory and demonstrations, good networking, and a healthy turnout of supporters. It was great to see Microsoft and Adobe (both sponsors) working together for the good of the cause. It was also nice to see all programs and platforms recognized.
Dave Meeker from Roundarch did a great job kicking off the event by discussing the core of all this RIAmadness. What, Why, Who, When - it was all covered.
Tim Heuer & Corrina Barber from Microsoft showed the ease designers and developers can look forward to using Blend. Good demonstration. I saw Blend on a lot of laptops by the end of the day.
Josh Holmes from Microsoft & Michael Labriola from Digital Primates had a great presentation on RIA. From practices to theory they covered a broad spectrum of the key components of RIA and answered that big question, “What’s the big deal?”.
Geoff Cubitt, President & CTO of Roundarch (and a Purdue man) discussed RIA while relating it to the fine work of Roundarch. He discussed different technologies (Flash, Flex, Dojo, AJAX, Silverlight) and touched a bit on selling RIA to the client.
Anthony Handley from Magenic did a great job showing designer & developer collaboration while bringing life to an application using Silverlight and XAML. He made it look so easy.
The one and only Corey Miller from Magenic (the guy who put Purdue on the map) recreated a Flash image gallery inside Silverlight and showed how to populate it with Flickr images. He did a nice job showing the many Flash designers and developers in the room that they don’t have to take that many steps back to start exploring Silverlight.
Ka Wai Cheung from We Are Mammoth discussed time saving RIA models and the power behind smart design.
So that’s a wrap. I hope this is the first of many.
Written by David Charney
Posted: May 26, 2008 (3 months ago) | 0 comments
Hey all. I am happy to announce cd2, the new Chicago Designers & Developers User Group.
cd2 is dedicated to bridging the gap between design & development to improve the user experience and user-centered design. Function meets design in this group as we focus on creativity as it relates to design and development processes and the collaboration between the two.
If you are interested, we ask that you visit our site at www.cd2ug.org and let us know what you would like to see in the group. We will be posting more information soon detailing the group and our first meeting.
Written by David Charney
Posted: May 2, 2008 (3 months, 3 weeks ago) | 0 comments
We all have our own processes when we design (Whether they are for a UI, print, animation, or whatever). This process tends to evolve through our careers as we define our skills and experience. I will be posting a series detailing my process and other processes when it comes to design and some development in the coming months. For now here is a quick sneak peek, or teaser, showing the process step of sketching your designs before entering Photoshop (or Microsoft Paint - if you are on a budget).
The reason to grab the ol’ pen and paper is because it gives you the opportunity to try out different ideas and layouts quickly. Good design, visually speaking, is a collaboration between brand, color, layout (placement), shapes, and creative ideas as it relates to usability and solving goals. The umbrella that forms from this collaboration is the user experience. But what is the first step? How do you use your time wisely? I know many designers who have found themselves with a lot of time in a design that isn’t working. They spend countless hours moving, tweaking, adjusting, crying. I have been there many times. This is where pen and paper come in handy.
There are actually several steps prior to this one and I will hit them all in time. But for now… Go find a pen, pencil, marker (Prisma anyone?), a sketchpad, sheets of paper, or a big white wall. I tend to start with shapes (squares, circles, etc.) so I can develop basic placement and understand the balance in a scene. I try to work up four or five very unique design sketches. I tend to lean towards a couple and then start detailing more and more. Keep taking steps back to think about how the user will use the design and don’t be afraid to be creative. Don’t focus on just one page either. Let’s say you are designing a website and the main object in the scene is a background shape. Rather than just filling the shape with more content on each internal page, try creating a sketch that shows how on internal pages the UI zooms into different part of that shape. This can motivate the user as they will wonder where they are headed next. It also creates a canvas for unique internal layouts. Sketch quickly. Don’t think to much at first. Start high level and then define more and more. Once you are happy with what you have, it is time to move to the next step. Depending on the project you may want to move right into your design program. You may want to draw up a few cleaner mock-ups for the client to review. After approval (or dreaded feedback), it is on to the next step - drinking a mountain dew as quickly as possible. Seriously that is the next step - look it up. Here are three original drawings and the final designs.
Check back for the continuation of this article… for now I have to run!
Written by David Charney
Posted: April 27, 2008 (4 months ago) | 0 comments
Hey just a note that RIApalooza will be Friday, May 30 and Saturday, May 31 downtown Chicago. It’s all about RIA (Rich Internet Applications) with some great speakers including Corey Miller and Anthony Handley. Check out the RIApalooza site for info, updates, and to REGISTER at www.riapalooza.com.
From the site:
Join your fellow RIA professionals for RIApalooza, a invaluable two day event aimed at exploring and promoting the development of Rich Internet Applications.
RIApalooza promises a platform agnostic and “PowerPoint-Free” zone, which means we are going to forgo the boring marketing pitches in favor of talking technology. RIApalooza is about creating Rich Internet Applications; how to go about building them and what is being built.
The event begins with a social meet-and-greet, Friday, May 30, 2008 from 6pm to 10pm. Presentations and sessions will be held Saturday, May 31, 2008 from 9am to 5pm.
The event will be held at the Illinois Technology Association, located at 200 S Wacker Drive 15th Floor Chicago, IL 60606.
Written by David Charney
Posted: February 16, 2008 (6 months, 1 week ago) | 0 comments
Being a creative director I am often asked by people “Why push the visuals?“… It is a good question which can crop up anytime you propose spending some good time and money to better the look and feel of a project. This question can be interpreted several ways:
1. Why should I spend a lot of money just for the cool factor?
2. Why spend the time on the design?
3. Why use 3D when we already have graphics that show everything?
4. Why spend any more money then is absolutely necessary?
5. Why rework all… - actually - I think you get the idea…
These questions pop up almost constantly… or let’s say mid-constantly. So what do I say to these questions? Good question. First, pushing for really powerful visuals - the 3d, the design - is not always the right way to go for every project. Take a step back from any project (look behind yourself first) and think about the scope of the project, the goals and objectives, the audience, and the long term possibilities. How will the audience benefit from the visuals?
What is so great about visuals? Why spend the time? What is the audience going to get out of it other than the “cool” factor? I feel another list coming on…
Number 1
A more graphical user interface can provide a more intuitive user experience. Spending more time on the look and feel, navigation, and creativity of project can increase ease of use and even be a motivator to continue exploring.
Number 2
Interactivity can provide a more “hands-on” feel to the user. It can allow them to make a connection by providing feedback. This can be key when expressing information, understanding, and retaining it. Fun is another word that comes to mind. Someone enjoying themselves can pick up new things without even realizing it. Again a motivator.
Number 3
3D can entertain and educate. What if you have the best video footage in the world but it can’t quite show the nerve that needs to be avoided during surgery. 3D can tell that part of the story by fading back the anatomy to show just what to be aware of. Again… motivating.
Number… where am I… 4. Number 4
If long term goals call for several applications that all work together, then developing a good brand structure can help bridge that gap. Thinking ahead can determine how much to push the visuals. Motivating.
Number 5
Motivation.
Number 6
Cool factor. Yep. Sometimes it is good to just be cool.
My time is almost up. You can start getting the idea. It’s not all about the cool factor, although it can help as it breaks down into several smaller reasons to push the visuals. A budget is important but if it makes sense for the benefit of the project talk over why pushing the visuals can be important both short term and long term. Think back to all those projects that you actually remember, enjoyed, and told your friends about. Did they have a little something extra to them?
