BlogmyQuery – BMQ

Ah, the love of a client. That is indeed what we all seek as professionals, is it not? If we lived in a utopia, then that’s all there would be. Openness. Honesty. Passion. Flowing in both directions, client to service provider and vice versa. We want our clients to be right behind us in our ideas and open to new ones. In order for this to happen, there has to be trust.

Clients that deal with large agencies tend to place their trust in the big brand names of these shops. Freelance designers and small agencies do not always inspire the confidence in clients that large shops do, which means that trust has to be built, nurtured and never taken for granted.

So, what tools do freelance designers and small agencies have at their disposal not only to get a client on board with their ideas, but to inspire them and encourage buy-in from other stakeholders in the client’s company? We’ll take a look at few of them in this article.

Getting a Win-Win

Getting a win-win is when you deliver solutions that address the client’s business problem. The client should respond to your ideas with respect, placing their trust in ideas that they may not immediately identify with, and turning down ideas they intuitively know will not work. We must be able to respond with the same respect and trust, allowing some of our ideas to fall by the wayside and letting others shine.

Keep in mind that challenging opinions is OK, especially ones that are bound to fail. In this type of relationship, both parties handle tension objectively, putting aside personal feelings, to complete the goal. Indeed, this well-oiled platform allows for the creation of amazing work. So, how does a win-win transpire? It transpires through actions, research and delivery.

Actions: Engaging Your Clients

The way that the teams from the client and agency engage with each other is critical. First and foremost, be what you want your client to be. If you want them to be honest, be honest. If you want them to be passionate, show your passion. They may not immediately reflect your enthusiasm, but they will feel it, and over time it will reinforce your efforts. This is Client Relations 101 and should not be ignored.

Often, though, this honesty, enthusiasm and passion aren’t enough. One of the stakeholders might have wanted another contractor to win the bid, or a variety of other issues might prevent the relationship from maturing. At this point, get the client to stop thinking about any perceived shortcomings, and get them to think objectively about the problems they’re facing, with you as the catalyst for solving them.

When we come across a resistant client, we look to customer insight as the means to help the client focus on the user and the business problems that need to be solved. By discussing these in a controlled, test-driven environment, the biases of both the client and agency are eliminated, and the issue becomes how to objectively solve the problems together.

Research And Customer Insight: The Objective Problem-Solving Approach

Before diving into ways to use customer insight to guide a project, I’ll go over the types of research methodologies and testing protocols that my firm commonly uses. These include ethnography (a research method from the social sciences that involves field research and up-close observation in the user’s environment), heuristic evaluation (a form of usability inspection, in which usability specialists judge whether each element of a user interface follows a list of established usability heuristics), focus groups, surveys, prototyping, usability testing, user interviews and more.

These methodologies yield valuable data, and from this data we can build persuasive artifacts to convince the client of strategies that we know have a high probability of success in the real world. In addition to customer research, stakeholder interviews can be invaluable in highlighting, and gaining consensus on, the scope of UX engagement.

Some of the research methods described above can be extensive and could require the client to commit some of their budget. But conducting research up front to understand customers and what they want is less expensive than spending time and money correcting a solution after it has launched. If the client does not have a budget that supports social science research, then light inexpensive testing can be performed. Nothing is wrong with heading to the nearest coffee shop, finding five to ten people in your target demographic and asking them contextual questions or giving them a run-through of a proposed solution. This is generally enough to make a case for change.

Case in Point

My company was recently hired by Boeing Commercial Aviation Services, the services arm of Boeing, to help transform its customer portal, MyBoeingFleet.com. As part of this transformation, we conducted a large ethnographic research project. It was a huge endeavour, with more than 150 users interviewed around the globe. Though large in scale, it gave us valuable insight into Boeing’s users, enabling us to identify challenges within its existing customer portal. Once we obtained the data, we analyzed it in detail and created a series of artifacts to help the Boeing team clearly understand what we had learned. These artifacts and deliverables also served to convince the Boeing team of our capabilities and expertise, as well as help sell the project to key internal stakeholders.

Upon completion of the ethnographic study, we created a document called SUDA, or “system, user and domain audit.� This comprehensive document detailed the results of the ethnographic research, transferred knowledge of fundamental UX processes, and compiled our findings into persuasive artifacts. This was then presented to all major stakeholders. Two primary artifacts in the SUDA helped to convince our clients and other stakeholders not only to trust us, but to become our champions: those artifacts were the personas and customer journey maps.

These deliverables are a turning point in translating the user research into design. In addition, you will need to develop other artifacts, including wireframes, which must be thoroughly understood before any design work begins.

Personas

Personas are artifacts commonly produced by agencies that perform research. They are key tools for creating empathy among everyone involved in the project. They consist, by definition, of an archetype that represents the needs, behaviors and goals of a particular set of users.

One of my favorite examples of personas is the diptychs of Jason Travis. While not typical personas, which are generally accompanied by a textual explanation of the archetype, they still convey a user’s state of mind through the objects they carry. In order to build something for someone, you must first put yourself in their state of mind; this is one of the definitions of empathy. In the diptych below, you can quickly gauge how the person might think based on what they are carrying. A tremendous amount of information is conveyed through these objects.

One of the diptychs of Jason Travis.

The challenge in developing personas for the Boeing project was the sheer scope and number of users. It could have easily led to 30 different archetypes, which would have been too many for the stakeholders to consume. To make our findings more digestible, users were divided into four major groups based on their activity or goal with the portal. Each group received one to five personas, based on real users. This was incredibly useful, because it enabled our team not only to construct a general archetype, but to expand on subtler aspects of the archetype through actual users. In the end, we had four archetypes, and nine total users to support those archetypes.

With these personas, we could attach a face to the actual navigation flows and interactions in Boeing’s customer portal. Our goal was to elicit empathy in our client and get them to feel the precise emotions their users felt so that they’d be willing to change the product for the better. To accomplish this, we chose to demonstrate the flows through customer journey maps.

Customer Journey Maps

Customer journey maps are graphs that demonstrate a user’s level of confidence and patience when performing various touch points in an interaction flow. Data is provided from an interview in which the user is guided through a particular task. As they move through the flow, we ask them how they feel at key intervals. For instance, if they are being guided through a shopping flow, we would let them perform the actions required, but when they click the “Buy now� button, we would ask how they feel about the process so far. They might be very frustrated or at relative ease. These feelings are then recorded, which gives us an emotional rhythm we can graph over time. Displaying the emotional journey in this way makes it easy for clients to understand, and it sometimes reveals shocking pain points.

An example of a customer journey map.

For Boeing, the journey maps were eye-opening. By getting a visual representation of the emotional state of their customers, the client suddenly understood how important planning the user experience is to the product development process — and not only for the development phase, but for overall customer service as well. Presenting these and all of the other findings in the SUDA enabled us to begin tackling the design phase objectively, hand in hand with the client.

Delivery: Design And Interest Curves

There is a cognitive science theory called the “aesthetic usability effect.� It states that functional objects that look appealing inspire confidence in users, imparting in the users a higher tolerance for faults, a higher likelihood of overcoming learning curves and a slew of other benefits over less appealing alternatives. This is true even if the objects are actually harder to use! The theory also applies when you present your ideas and solutions to a client. Once you’ve prepared your materials, it is time to present them to the client. The more appealing the delivery, the more likely the solutions will be accepted.

Delivery is a critical moment in the transformation of a client’s attitude. If at all possible, make it face to face, and bring any executive-level sponsors from your company with you. With Boeing, we took our time to make sure that what we presented was visually appealing and well organized. Paying close attention to delivering the content builds trust; sloppy work will only work against your objective. Because most of you are designers, I am sure your presentations are incredibly visually appealing, but how do you construct your content so that it has the most impact? My advice: use interest curves.

Interest curves set the timing, or pace, of when to introduce various moments into your presentation. Take the following curve:

This shows interest points over time. It is also a poor interest curve. Now look at an optimal interest curve:

You can see that you want to start off the presentation with something that immediately captures the attention of the audience. From there, slowly build to a climactic point (for us, that would be the journey maps), and end the presentation quickly thereafter. This will keep the audience simmering for more, and it generally leaves a great impression. This type of curve can be found in many forms of entertainment, from rock concerts to movies, and, for whatever reason, our minds are tuned to this pacing of interest. To create further interest, these curves can be embedded within each other, as the following graph demonstrates:

Fractal interest curve

The point is, keep the client hooked with undulations of interesting moments, and make those moments grow in intensity until you impress your final point deep into their subconscious.

For The Win: Actions, Research And Delivery

Through your actions, by gathering customer insight and by creating meaningful, engaging visuals and deliverables that support your strategy, not only will you have concrete data to inform your designs and the project’s direction, but you’ll likely achieve that win-win. Getting clients on board with your recommendations translates to a more productive, successful project for everyone.

Good luck in transforming the minds of your clients!

(al)(fi)

© Leonard Souza for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

Light painting has always wowed audiences, right from it’s inception in the 1930s. Light painting is a photographic technique, whereby exposures are usually taken at night or in a darkened environment, using a moving light source or by moving the camera.

Light painting can create some truly astonishing outcomes, and because it’s a photographic technique, rather than a digital technique the results often appear very natural. In recent years light painting has grown in popularity as a trend. With easy access to professional camera setups many people are able to experiment with it.

This popularity has resulted in some impressive, and not so impressive pieces being created. Pretty sure you’ve all seen photos online of objects outlined by a shaky light source, or even more popular; hand made ‘light typography’, much of which isn’t very legible, or attractive.

At Noupe we know that you enjoy the highest quality in art and design, and so wanted to present some true masters of light painting. These guys have taken a widespread medium and taken it to the next level. Every image is a true work of art, with a tremendous attention to detail and great photographic talent. We’ve included artist’s with very diverse styles, so you can get a true idea of how varied light painting can be.

Jaw Dropping Light Paintings From the Masters:

Eric Staller’s Light Paintings

What can we say about Eric Stallers work? Well ‘wow’ was the initial reaction after stumbling upon his portfolio. Eric uses light painting to give a magical feeling to ordinary landscapes and cityscapes. Each of his works hint at the complexities in his process, as detailed streams of light flow seamlessly around manmade sculptures and structures.

What is most impressive about Eric’s work is how he doesn’t simply apply streaks of light, but applies them like one would a paintbrush. His light strokes vary in width, density and brightness. Many of his compositions rely on bold, eye-catching structural outlines, mixed with delicate, elegant more subtle lines of light. He takes the ordinary and makes it something truly special.

You certainly should check out Eric’s book ‘OUT OF MY MIND’ at his website.

Aurora Crowley Light Paintings

Aurora Crowley has a wonderful eye for photography, and uses light paintings to enhance her already superb photography skills. Much of her portfolio is comprised of fashion-type shots, featuring versions of the human form, adorned with luxurious clothing and jewelry.

Rather than simply painting light against a plain or dark background, Aurora uses light to enhance her work, rather than to define it. She frequently uses multi-colored light sources to overlay slick, artistic lines over her models. Light often emphasizes the clothing/jewelry worn by her subjects. For example, in the works below we see light extending the contours of a dress, rising up from a handbag like smoke, branching out from sunglasses like a kaleidoscope or trailing off from a futuristic bracelet. She is a great example of not overdoing an art form, as light painting is often overdone these days.

Light Art Photography by JanLeonardo Wöllert

JanLeonardo is another wonderful artist who utilizes light painting. He generally focuses on sparse landscapes or barren interiors of buildings. He has a wonderful sense of space and structure in his work, and really feeds off of the surrounding architecture with his light markings.

Due to the sparse nature of his settings, we really get a sense of the light filling the space, and more often than not totally transforming it. Typically Jan avoids isolated light structures, rather preferring his light to spread throughout the setting, totally overwhelming it. In many of his pieces the light structures flow seamlessly through the structures of the background, giving a highly naturalistic feeling, with futuristic undertones.

Due to his photographic expertise Jan is able to create a wonderful harmony between the photography and the light painting, with neither medium detracting from the other.

Jason D. Page

Jason D. Page is yet another talented light painter. He uses light typically in outdoor landscapes to create a magical, abstract feeling to his work.

Jason has a great sense of space and contour, and his light often flows throughout his chosen landscapes with effortlessness and grace. He frequently uses backgrounds with an almost muted, pastel quality to them, whereby his light painting attracts far more attention. Whilst the light is certainly what grabs us the most, it also enhances the surrounding environments, giving them a surreal glow. A great example of how professionally done light painting can add a special little something extra to a standard setting.

(rb)

Editor’s note: This article is the third in our new series that introduces new, useful and freely available tools and techniques, developed and released by active members of the Web design community. The first article covered PrefixFree; the second introduced Foundation, a responsive framework that helps you build prototypes and production code. This time, we’re presenting Sisyphus.js, a library developed by Alexander Kaupanin to provide Gmail-like client-side drafts and a bit more.

What Problem Needs Solving?

Have you ever been filling out a long form online or writing an eloquent and spirited comment when suddenly the browser crashes? Or perhaps you closed the browser tab accidentally, or your Internet connection cuts off, or the electricity goes down (and, being ever obedient to Murphy’s Law, you had no backup power supply). If not, then you’re lucky. But no one is protected from such minor catastrophes.

(Image: Kristian Bjornard)

Imagine the storm of emotions felt by a user who had to add just a bit more information before submitting a form and then loses all data. Horrible, huh? Now, if only there was a way to recover that data, rather than undertake a Sisyphean pursuit.

Existing Solutions

One common solution is to write one’s comments in a local document, saving the file periodically, and then copying and pasting the text into the form once it’s complete. Some forms also allow you to save your draft by clicking a button, but not all forms have this feature, and it’s not the most convenient solution. The product that does this best is Gmail, with its auto-save feature for drafts: just type away, and all of the content is stored automatically, without you even needing to press a button.

After releasing Sisyphus.js, I learned of Lazarus, an extension for Firefox and Chrome that helps to recover form data. But browser plugins lead to an even bigger problem: distribution. Some users don’t have a clue what a browser extension is — many users don’t, in fact, which makes this approach inadequate on a large scale.

The people with a direct line to users are Web developers themselves. So, addressing the problem of user input at the stage of development seems more practical than expecting users to add to their skyscraper of extensions.

A Solution: Sisyphus.js

Implementing Gmail-like auto-saving of drafts is not straightforward at all. I wanted the solution to be simple and easy to use, which would rule out the use of server-side magic.

The result is an unassuming script that stores form data to the local storage of the user’s browser and restores it when the user reloads or reopens the page or opens the page in a new tab. The data is cleared from local storage when the user submits or resets the form.

How to Use It

Implementing Sisyphus.js is pretty simple. Just select which forms you’d like to protect:

$('#form1, #form2').sisyphus();

Or protect all forms on the page:

$('form').sisyphus();

The following values are the defaults but are customizable:

{
customKeyPrefix: '',
timeout: 0,
onSave: function() {},
onRestore: function() {},
onRelease: function() {}
}

Let’s break these options down:

• customKeyPrefix
  An addition to key in local storage details in order to store the values of form fields.
• timeout
  The interval, in seconds, after which to save data. If set to 0, it will save every time a field is updated.
• onSave
  A function that fires every time data is saved to local storage.
• onRestore
  A function that fires when a form’s data is restored from local storage. Unlike onSaveCallback, it applies to the whole form, not individual fields.
• onRelease
  A function that fires when local storage is cleared of stored data.

Even after Sisyphus.js has been implemented in a form, you can apply it to any other form and the script won’t create redundant instances, and it will use the same options. For example:

// Save form1 data every 5 seconds
$('#form1').sisyphus( {timeout: 5 } );

…

// If you want to protect second form, too
$('#form2').sisyphus( {timeout: 10} )

// Now the data in both forms will be saved every 10 seconds

Of course, you can change options on the fly:

var sisyphus = $('#form1').sisyphus();

…

// If you decide that saving by timeout would be better
$.sisyphus().setOptions( {timeout: 15} );

…

// Or
sisyphus.setOptions( {timeout: 15} );

Usage Details

Requirements: Sisyphus.js requires jQuery version 1.2 or higher.

Browser support:

• Chrome 4+,
• Firefox 3.5+,
• Opera 10.5+,
• Safari 4+,
• IE 8+,
• It also works on Android 2.2 (both the native browser and Dolphin HD). Other mobile platforms have not been tested.

Download the script: Sisyphus.js and the demo are hosted on GitHub; the minified version is about 3.5 KB. A road map and issue tracker are also available.

(al)

© Alexander Kaupanin for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

The year is slowly coming to an end and we’re glad to present to you a festive icon set to inspire you in your designs. In this post we present a minimalist collection of 20 free festive vector (.EPS) icons created by offset media. The pack includes color and grayscale versions. The pack includes mostly Christmas related icons, such us the gingerbread man, nutcracker, snowman and the very well-known fir tree.

Feel free to also have a look at some of our previous Smashing Christimas icon sets: Free Smashing Christmas Icon Set by Icon Eden (2009) and Free Smashing Christmas Icon Set by SoftFacade (2008).

Download the Icon Set for Free!

The pack is completely free to use in personal and commercial projects without any restrictions. Please link to this article if you want to spread the word.

• large preview
• download the free icon set (.zip, 665 Kb)

Behind the Design

As always, here are some insights from the designer:

“Like any design studio, here at offset media, we prefer to create our own festive greeting cards to give to clients. This year I had a very clear vision of the overall look I wanted, a single white festive character on a solid red background.

Knowing the look, but unsure of what character to use, I ended up creating a bunch of icons to choose from. Once we were happy with the card design (choosing the snowman), we had all these unused icons lying about, and being someone who does not likes things going to waste, I decided to share them with others who could possible make use of them!”

 —  George Neocleous (aka GeoNeo) is a full-time designer and illustrator, who works at London-based design studio offset media and blogs (sporadically) at Geoneo’s Blog.

Thank you, George. We appreciate your work and your good intentions!

(il) (vf)

© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

As we turn our designer spotlight on once again, this time we have it fixed on Illustrative Designer Von Glitschka of Glitschka Studios. With years of design experience under his belt, and an artistic background to boot, Von has made a lasting impression on the field where he has made his home. And we are lucky to have gotten a moment of his time recently to get him to answer some questions for us and our readers.

Before we begin, we thought we would lay the groundwork a little bit more for those readers who might be unfamiliar with Von’s work. Passion is certainly one of the words that comes quickly to mind when describing Von, because his passion can be felt in all of his creative expressions. Whether he is designing for a client, preparing a talk for people in and out of the design field, or putting together a useful resource for the community; his excitement for the work that he does comes across almost effortlessly.

We will not go on and keep you waiting any longer. From this point forward we have a wonderful interview to share along with some select designs to showcase from the designer himself. Enjoy.

The Interview

Thanks again for agreeing and taking the time to answer these questions. So Von, if you don’t mind, tell our readers a bit about yourself. What are some of your personal highlights from your many years in the design game?

I kind of view my career as a path adventure. Even though I actively market myself in specific ways, I still get approached to work on a very diverse range of projects that many times I never see coming until they contact me requesting a quote.

I do have a few favorites I’ve worked on that come to mind, but the one project that was really close to my heart was a project I did for Wayne Enterprises. They manage and license the image of John Wayne, and I was asked to create officially licensed graphics they would give to those who license his image. You can view that project here.

Who are some of your biggest illustration / design influences?

The earliest and biggest design influence would have to be Neville Brody. And without a doubt the biggest influence on me illustration wise was the wonderful work of Jim Flora. (Way ahead of his time IMO)

You’ve been operating under the title of ‘Illustrative Designer’, a title you coined as your skills in both of these fields began to merge. What do you consider to be the finer points of being an Illustrative Designer?

I think the fundamental qualifying factor of an Illustrative Designer is leveraging illustrative skill sets specifically in context of a design project. This is different than a designer hiring an illustrator, I’m talking about being hired to execute graphic design centric solutions and pulling them off with an illustrative flair or approach.

This is why I hammer so hard on the fact that designers should also be avid drawers. Not to be confused with illustration though. Meaning I don’t expect every designer to be an illustrator, I just think every designer could benefit and improve their design by drawing. Analog methods are still as valid now in a digital age as they were prior to the dawn of computers. I cover this pretty extensively in my book Vector Basic Training.

This summer I’ll be doing a talk at the HOW Design Conference called “Drawing Conclusions” which will go into the importance of design within the context of a creative process as a designer.

You’ve worked with medium and large design firms, ad agencies, small businesses, and more to help with their creative needs through the creative firm you started Glitschka Studios, is there a particular type of job you prefer to the others? Or as long as it’s creative are you happy to play along?

My creative preferences seem to migrate from one thing to another through out the course of a given year. Right now I’m really enjoying working on custom hand lettered logotypes such as this one.

One thing creatively speaking (pardon the pun) I enjoy doing is speaking. It gives me the opportunity to share knowledge and the creative work of those within a narrative that is very enjoyable and fun. I’ve recently pulled together a mobile studio and I’ve started doing one day creative workshops geared for designers. We go over drawing, and how to move from your drawn design to final form. I recently did a workshop on this in London.

The only type of creative work I tend to avoid is brochures. Just don’t like doing them and usually just farm them out to a friend and art direct it.

On the website for your Studio, you layout the creative process that your clients can expect when working with your firm (a very inspired idea, by the way), could you give our readers an idea of how you crafted such a comprehensive and methodical process? Do you find clients receptive to this structured and set of a process?

Because I’ve worked for a lot of larger agencies I’ve read a lot of creative briefs and over time I just gleaned what I thought worked best from a variety of sources and weaved it into my own creative process.

When I’m hired by large agencies and design firms they have their own creative protocol that I adhere and adapt too. So what I posted on my own site is more geared towards the small independent business owner. It’s my best attempt to systematize an often unsure process so they’ll know in general what to expect regarding their need for a logo identity or marketing. It’s not so rigid that I never waiver from it though and at times can be far less complex. It’s always best to hedge expectations and communicate as clearly as possible before a project begins.

That said, regardless how well I attempt to prepare things don’t always go smoothly.

You have given numerous talks at conferences, schools, and events all over, and have talks on many topics prepared. Do you have a preference for the type of audience you are speaking to?

I’ve spoken to designers, illustrators, advertising groups, marketing groups, small business groups, in-house art departments, new media developers, ministry workers, college departments, art schools, local creative events, and even a tech conference. One of the best comments I ever got after speaking to a group of designers regarding “Living a Creatively Curious Life” was the IT guy who was recording it and handling all the technical stuff came up to me afterwards and said “I’m not a designer, I don’t even draw. But that was a fun talk and now I’m inspired.” I thought that was pretty cool, and I told him he should start drawing.

When I make certain points in my talks I try to use examples that breach outside our industry. I think they helps make the message more universal for all creative types and enables them to see how it can apply to their specific skill set within the industry.

What are some of the most exciting changes that you have experienced in the field while working under the title of Illustrative Designer? Anything you would like to see more of?

When I graduated analog was still king and remained so for about five years until the Macintosh fundamentally changed the creative process. I’ve always been a Mac geek since Apple II days and use to program in basic in high school so moving from analog to digital for me was a no-brainer and really did facilitate a greater reach for me creatively speaking. This is one reason why I loved Neville Brody, he embraced early tech and leveraged it to the fullest through his work.

Our industry is replete with an overwhelming amount of great design being produced. I’d love to see more focus on all the great ideas created in the pursuit of pleasing the clients that never get used. I think that would make a great book BTW. I’ve done a few posts over the years on this and they’ve always been the ones that got the most traffic?

Via VonsterBooks.com you have several inspired design resource tomes available, what was the initial inspiration behind throwing your hat into this ring?

In 2005 I was hanging out on design forum online, this was the precursor to social media like Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. One of the editors from HOW Books posted a thread asking what type of books you’d like to see published? At the time I had a text file on my computer called “Book Ideas.” Every time I had an idea I’d write it in the file.

So I just copy and pasted my ideas into that forum thread and a couple days later the editor contacted me and asked me to pitch two of them. I did and they signed me up to do “Crumble.Crackle.Burn” which is a book on textures. I consider these design resource books in that other designers can utilize the content to produce their own work. That is why each has real examples of the art being used by some very talented designers.

What advice would you offer to others just getting started at, or looking to become more adept illustrators or designers? Or even Illustrative Designers?

Be smart designers: Never stop learning, never stop adapting, understand how businesses run, familiarize yourself with marketing, be curious, try new things, be your worst critic, accept the fact you’ll have to say “no” to a client at times regardless how frustrating or uncomfortable it may make you feel, and never stop drawing regardless if you ever want to be an illustrator.

You are a very busy guy, with multiple irons in the proverbial fire, how do you keep your schedule balanced and moving forward? Any favorite productivity tips or apps that you use?

Lists are great whether virtual or old school writing on a piece of paper. Make a list every day. I use a web app called backpackit to make lists easier. Be completely honest with clients, don’t say you can get something done by a certain date unless you absolutely can. Tell them when you can and most often they’ll be OK with that. Also be honest with them if they are making a bad decision that’ll effect design, you may butt heads but it’s all part of building trust.

As an illustrative designer, what are some of your favorite tools that you keep in your arsenal? Your go-to tools of the trade? Any new developments along this front that you are looking forward too?

My preferred tools are probably underwhelming and predictable? I draw a lot, so I use your standard issue 2B pencil, mechanical pencil, Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop. I’ve been using my iPad a lot in regards to research but it would be nice if I could leverage it more for creative work. I did manage to create this design on my iPad. I used an app called “InkPad” which worked pretty good, but Adobes own apps for iPad are at best equipped for noodling rather than precise creative work.

After watching the design field evolve over the years, what do you expect to see in the industry’s next evolutions?

I’m hoping the development of apps and mobile media moves out of the realm of needing to be a coder and more into the realm of a design program. I’m still surprised web development is still not there yet either? I remember in art school writing two pages of code to get green screen graphics on the Lisa Apple Computer I was using. We now have Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to do that now and the code is all behind the hood.

I’d love to see that same level of progression in web development and mobile apps. Where it’s about design and aesthetic and code is handled behind the hood. But entire industries have been created on the fact that someone needs to know the code so I feel the progression will move at a glacial pace much like automotive moving to full-on electric cars.

Apparently Adobe Muse is suppose to fill this gap but that’s what they said about other apps in the past and it didn’t really work out that way. So hopefully it will, but I won’t hold my breath.

Speaking of the future, are there any projects that you have on the horizon that you can share with us? Anything coming that has you excited?

Working on a new book with a friend of mine who is a photographer. It’s more of a creative coffee table book that anyone would enjoy. It’ll take a few years to get everything done but so far it’s been a lot of fun to work on.

(rb)