BlogmyQuery – BMQ

Showing whether a link on a web page has been visited or not can be very useful. One example that many will be familiar with is how it helps you know which links you have already followed from a Google search results page – links to pages you have already visited are a different colour than the other links.

Changing only the colour can be a bit subtle though, especially for people with colour vision deficiency. Depending on which colours are used to differentiate between visited and unvisited links it can be hard to tell them apart. To make the difference more obvious, there are a number of techniques involving background images, generated content (like the one I describe in Check marking visited links), and other CSS properties. However, if you’ve been using any similar tricks to style visited links, it’s time to forget about those and start relying on colour alone.

Read full post

Posted in Browsers, CSS.

Copyright © Roger Johansson

The internet is a fantastic resource for anyone who has a passion for food. There are thousands of recipe websites available for those who want to try something new, and photo blogs where users simply share a picture of what they are eating. Ordering food through the internet has become very popular too as it allows people the opportunity of purchasing obscure foods they can’t find locally. There are some great discounts for those who purchase bulk orders too.

So foodies the world over, love turning to the world wide web for all their food related needs. Today we will be looking at 25 interesting food and drink related websites that are sure to inspire you.

The Showcase

1. Big Oven

Big Oven is one of the most popular food related applications for devices such as the iPhone and iPad. It also works with Android and Windows Phone devices.

The main website also displays their 170,000+ recipes. Members can see their recipes through their mobile device or through the main website.

2. Food

One of the largest recipe websites on the web with over 400,000 recipes. Food.com has a minimalist design that packs a lot of information into a page.

3. Chocablog

Chocablog is a regularly updated chocolate blog that features news, reviews, recipes and a shop. It has a mouth watering design that boasts a featured slider post on the home page and a traditional blog sidebar.

4. C & C Coffee Company

An interesting design that features a flash based navigation header that shakes menu items around as if they were hanging by string.

5. Mealeo

An easy to use website that walks you through how you can place a food order and have it delivered to your home.

6. Burger King

Burger King has a design that is both fun and practical. The site features 3 sliders at the top of the page: Fun, Food and BK®. By moving a slider from – to + the main content changes accordingly. For example, by moving the fun slider to the right you will see information for the BK Facebook page, BK Club for kids and frozen drinks. Moving the food slider brings up hamburgers and fries etc.

The great thing about the sliders is that you can include 1, 2 or 3 sections. The icons simply get smaller to make room for more information.

7. Ben & Jerry’s

As you would expect from Ben & Jerry’s, their website doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s fun, colourful and animated but is still packed with lots of information about their ice-cream.

8. FoodSpotting

A great service that lets mobile users take pictures of their food and share it with the world. Other users can then search through the FoodSpotting website or mobile application by location or by type of food. One of the more inventive ways that a developer has integrated Google Maps into their service.

9. Wokitokee

The Wokitokee noodle shop has to be one of the strangest designs we have seen. It’s probably a little confusing to customers, but there’s no disputing that this flash based design is unique.

10. Catered By Kate

A simple yet elegant design that has a personal touch. Catered By Kate is a great example of a small 4 page website.

11. Serious Eats

The Serious Eats community has a fantastic looking blog design that uses images throughout the site to promote new articles.

12. All Recipes

A huge recipe community that has dedicated versions of the site for countries all around the world. It uses a clean design that makes browsing the thousands of recipes they have in their archives a breeze.

13. BrewShop

The New Zealand BrewShop is a fantastic looking online shop that sells a wide range of products to people who want to make their own beers at home.

14. Jamie Oliver

TV chef Jamie Oliver’s website has a clean design that manages to squeeze in information about him, recipes, his foundation, his restaurants, his products and much more.

15. Just Eat

Just Eat is a food ordering service that is popular in Canada and most of Europe. To order food all you have to do is enter the post code of your area and Just Eat will list all restaurants in your area. Results can be filtered by the type of food you want too.

16. Giraffe

The website for the family restaurant chain Giraffe is big, bright, colourful and easy to navigate.

17. Marie Catribs

A great looking design that rotates images on the home page of some of Marie Catribs tastiest dishes.

18. Domino’s

A simple easy to use flash based website that promotes the latest deals from Domino’s.

19. Meal 2 Go

Another food ordering service that lists restaurants in your area. Menus are completely integrated into the site so you just need to choose what you want and click the buy button.

20. Sibling Rivalry Wine

It’s not often you get Wine with a rock-n-roll design but that’s what wine makers Henry Of Pelham have done with Sibling Rivalry. It’s an easy to use and well designed website. Unfortunately, you can’t order the wine directly through the website :(

21. Dilly Deli Tulsa

Another big and colourful restaurant design that is incredibly easy to navigate. Weekday and weekend specials are displayed on the home page and the top navigation menu lists the different sections of their menu.

22. Little Cake Parlour

With beautiful typography and a simple wedding themed elegant design, Little Cake Parlour is a fantastic example of how to promote a niche food website. Check out their great looking lightbox powered cake gallery!

23. Pic Fresh

A simple yet effective design for the Australian catering company Pic Fresh. Details of all of their products can be found on the site.

24. I Love Sesame

A fun design that lets visitors download menus in PDF format, find details of their nearest shop and place an order online.

25. The Whisky Exchange

The Whisky Exchange has a traditional eCommerce style design. It’s very easy to browse products through the website, which is what is essential for a store that sells such a wide number of items.

We hope you have enjoyed this mouth watering slice of Noupe today. Please feel free to use the comment section to tell us some of your favorite places to turn online to feed your inner foodie. We look forward to hearing from you.

In the digital age, don’t forget to use your digits! Your hands are the original digital devices

— Lynda Barry

People often ask how I arrived at a finished illustration. Honestly, it’s different every time, but it always starts with a hand-drawn sketch. Sometimes, I paint it completely by hand; sometimes I’ll scan in a pencil drawing. Many of my pieces are 100% analog that I’ll show only at shops or galleries. Use anything you can; if the illustration would work as a wood carving, go that route. There are concrete steps one can take, but they certainly don’t have to be the same every time. My goal is to take a sketch or idea as far as it can go — and also, to get out of my comfort zone and challenge myself with every new job. For this article, I’ll use handcrafted brushes and Photoshop as my tools.

Sketching It Out

Concepting for me always starts with pencil and paper. If there is one consistent element through all of my pieces, it’s sketching. I love to draw. If I could establish and execute everything with a single pencil drawing, I would. The best thing to do is keep some type of sketchbook or journal with you as much as possible. Milton Glaser said it best: “Drawing is visual thinking.� Drawing creates many possibilities for any idea you might have. It’s then when the character’s personality starts to emerge. Then, I’ll add some volume to the sketch to show where the textures should really come through.

Researching

This is the most underestimated part of the process, but one of the most important. Here, we’re assessing the sketch. What textures would work? What colors would work? It helps to look at your influences.

Some artists who always inspire me are Mary Blair, Alice Provensen, Charley Harper, Maurice Noble and Eyvind Earle. And there are so many ways now to catalog and bookmark historical artwork.

Also, if I’m drawing an elephant’s skin, or wood on a camera, or a band on a helmet, I’ll want to take a close look at the real thing. Google Images is quick, but if I have time I’ll run to the library. Sometimes I do this as soon as I have an idea. Really seeing what you’ll be working with helps.

Crafting Your Own Brushes

I do this because I want my brushes to be my own. Many great websites out there offer textured brushes for Photoshop. For me, the more unique these brushes, the better. Based on my sketch and research, I will have some idea of what I want to capture. I’ll use oil pastels, paint, paper towels, charcoal and anything else. It’s all about being resourceful — use everything. One more thing: when making brushes, the grittier the paper, the better. The more tooth it has, the more the marks will scan. It is for this reason alone I have to clean my scanner all the time.

Some rough crosshatching for the elephant’s skin, with an oil pastel on drawing paper.

Scanning It All In

Scan everything: the initial sketch, the textures, anything you’ve made to this point. I’ll keep anything that I don’t use at this point in a library, possibly to use for something else. I’ve set the scanner to 600 DPI at “Millions� of colors. If your scanner has a “Sharpen� setting, crank it to “High.� You can scan the sketches in black and white at 1200 DPI, or in grayscale since the brushes will be black and white. I’ve set the colors to “High� so that I can archive the files and use them for something else. Once everything has been scanned, let’s open the images in Photoshop.

Here is a scan of my original sketch. I scanned it in at 300 DPI because I will eventually be printing this piece.

If you scan as black and white, you won’t need to worry about adjusting the levels. I’ve scanned in color, so I’ll increase the black and white values in Photoshop. The levels can be found in Images → Adjustments → Levels.

Defining Brushes In Photoshop

I recommend making each one of these brushes a separate file. For the resolution, you can go up to 2500 × 2500. It really depends on what the finished piece needs to be. For this exercise, I’ll select a portion of the scan and define a brush from it.

From the menu drop-down, go to “Edit� and then “Define Brush.�

Now that we have created a brush, we can name it. It will be added to our Brush palette.

You can view the Brush palette by selecting the Brush tool. Look at the options toolbar, and you’ll see a thumbnail of the brush; you can pull this down to view the entire palette. From the menu arrow in the top right, you can save brushes you’ve created. Brushes are saved in Photoshop’s Presets/Brushes folder. You can also load brushes from this menu as well.

Selecting A Color Palette

Now that our brush set is in order, let’s start painting. For the color palette, I’ve researched my idols. Mary Blair and Alice Provensen are masters of color and shape. I always look at their use of color and design. Again, this is why research is so important. Study the people you admire, and analyze why you admire their work. I really like a somewhat muted palette, with some small areas of intense color. In my scanned sketch, I’ve added another layer and sampled the colors I’d like to use.

Making Shapes And Painting

Let’s go to the Paths menu and draw the shapes that we want to paint. From here, we create a “New Path� using the Pen tool, to define the shapes that we established in the sketch. So, let’s open the sketch that we scanned, select the Pen tool from the toolbar, and select “New Path� from the Path menu. Once the Path is saved, we use the Path tool (which is the Pen tool), and start tracing out our shapes. The image below shows all the paths I’ve created that I intend to paint.

Let’s start by painting the shape that will be the background. From the toolbar, select the Path tool, and select a specific path.

Now that we’ve selected a Path, we can create a selection from that path. To do this, select from the pull-down menu on the right in the Paths menu. You’ll see an option named “Make Selection.�

Once that’s selected, a dialog box will pop up asking for a radius to feather the selection; 0 is fine. Also, enable “Anti-aliased� and “New Selection.�

Now that we have a selection, we can “Create a New Layer.� This layer will be specific to this shape. We’ll end up with many layers for each shape, but they will give us the flexibility to edit down the road.

Now that we have a new layer, and the Path is a selection, we can use a brush from the brush set that we created. Also, I’m still using the colors from the palette that I created earlier.

Here’s where the research, brush creation and painting all come together. Let’s paint the path on a “New Layer,� using the steps described above.

Painting within the shapes you’ve defined is a chance to experiment. You can try all kinds of things, like making the brush more transparent or painting over other textures. For me, it’s a lot of trial and error. This image below is a close-up of the brush I’m painting with.

After many painted layers, I end up with a piece that is digitally painted with hand-crafted brushes.

Other Resources

You might be interested in the following articles and related resources:

• Illustrations of Alice and Martin Provensen
  Alice and Martin Provensen were a husband-and-wife illustration team. They wrote and illustrated numerous children’s books, including many little and giant golden books from the ’40s until Martin’s death in 1987. Alice continues to work as an illustrator.
• “How to Steal Like an Artistâ€�
  An excellent article on creativity and life by the brilliant Austin Kleon.
• The Drawn Blog
  A daily source of inspiration for illustration, animation, cartooning, and comic art.
• Today’s Inspiration
  A great source for inspiration and the history of Illustration by Professor Leif Peng.

(al)

---

© David Mottram for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

Adobe Illustrator has an amazing feature that allows us create many realistic illustrations. Today we will have the opportunity to practice with the Mesh Tool once again. We will use it to create an interesting damask curtain. The Mesh Tool will help us to create the illusion of the silk look of the curtain with a nice floral design. You can use this simple technique to create similar illustrations (a waving flag, for example).

So, let’s get started on this new Adobe Illustrator tutorial.

The final result should look something like this.

Creating the Floral Pattern

There are numerous patterns you can create to apply to the curtain. We will make a nice and interesting floral design. Creating the floral design is actually very simple. The only thing you have to pay attention to is creating smooth paths and symmetrical shapes. We will be using the Pen Tool (P), Ellipse Tool (L), Blend Tool and some other very useful Adobe Illustrator features. First we will prepare a few brushes that we’ll apply to some simple shapes.

Grab the Ellipse Tool (L) from the Tool Panel and create a circle.

Duplicate it (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) and place it as it’s shown on the picture below (hold the Shift key on the keyboard for straight dragging).

With the Ellipse Tool (L) create an ellipse and place it in the middle.

Select all the elements and under the Pathfinder Panel hit the Unite button. It will unite all the elements into one shape.

Create another circle and place it as shown in the picture below.

Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) the red circle and move it to the right. Make sure to align the elements properly. Under the Pathfinder Panel hit the Minus Front button.

Grab the Ellipse Tool (L) again from the Tool Panel and create a small circle. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) grab the lower anchor point and drag it downwards (hold the Shift key on the keyboard to ensure straight dragging).

Drag and drop the shape we have just created to the Brush Panel. The New Brush window will pop up. Make sure to check the Art Brush box.

In the Art Brush Options window make sure to set the Colorization Method to Tint. It will allow you to change the color of the brush directly, without expanding the objects.

This way we have created the brush that we will use a little bit later.

Now, grab the Pen Tool (P) from the Tool Panel and create the path as pictured.

Set the Stroke to 5pt.

Now we are going to turn the path into an editable shape. This is going to allow us to adjust the positions of some anchor points. Under Object select Expand. Grab the Direct Selection Tool (A) from the Tool Panel and try to adjust the shape as it’s shown.

This is also one of the shapes we will use a little bit later.

Now, let’s create a small leaf. To do that we will be using the Ellipse Tool (L). Create a circle (hold the Shift key on the keyboard for the proper circle). With the Direct Selection Tool (A) select the upper anchor point and drag it upwards (Shift for straight dragging).  With the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift + C) turn the top of the shape into the sharp corner.

Grab the Pen Tool (P) from the Tool Panel and create the shape shown below.

Select both shapes and under the Pathfinder Panel hit the Minus Front button.

For the next floral element we will use the Pen Tool (P). Draw the path as it is shown on the picture below.

Set the Stroke to 5 pt and expand the path under Object > Expand.

With the Direct Selection Tool (A) adjust the positions of the anchor points and the angle of their handles. Try to create something like this.

There are numerous shapes we can create this way. Just use your imagination and make sure to create smooth shapes.

Let’s put our elements together and try to create a nice looking floral pattern.

Grab the Arc Tool from the Tool Panel and create the arc as shown in the picture below.

Reflect the arc by using the reflecting feature under Object > Transform > Reflect. Set the Axis to Vertical and hit the OK button.

Make two more copies (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) of the arc and place them like they are below.

With all arcs selected, choose the brush from the Brush Panel that we made earlier. You should end up with something like this.

Continue arranging the shapes we have already made.

Each time we add a new shape to our illustration we will use Reflection to create a mirror image in order to create a symmetrical illustration. In the same time make sure to align all of the elements to be centered.

Grab the Ellipse Tool (L) from the Tool Panel and create a circle . With the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) add one anchor point like we’ve done below.

With the Direct Selection Tool (A) select the new anchor point and remove it by hitting the Delete key on the keyboard.

Remove the Fill color and apply the brush we have made earlier.

Place the new shape as it shown on the picture below.

You can also add three flowers to make this part more interesting.

Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) the curved path with the brush and scale it down little bit.

Grab the Ellipse Tool (L) one more time and create a circle.

With the Pen Tool (P) create a path as you can see done on the picture below.

Select the circle and the red path and under the Pathfinder Panel hit the Divide button. Ungroup the (Shift + Ctrl / Cmd + G) divided circle and remove one part by hitting the Delete key on the keyboard. Place the new shape as it shown on the picture below.

Select the new elements on the right side of the floral design and under Object select Transform > Reflect. Set the Axis to Vertical and hit the OK button. Place the copies on the left side.

Using techniques from previous steps create new elements.

Let’s create one more interesting detail for our floral design. Grab the Ellipse Tool (L) from the Tool Panel and create a small circle. Duplicate it (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F), scale it down and move it to the right.

Select both circles and under Object select Blend > Make. To set the number of the circles that are going to appear between these two circles under the Blend Tool set the Spacing to Specified Steps and the value to 15. It will create 15 circles in the middle.

Now we are going to use the Arc Tool again. Create the arc, select it within our line of descending circles and under the Object select Blend > Replace Spine. It will arrange the circles to follow the path of the arc.

Using the same technique, create a few more interesting details and complete our floral design.

Creating the Curtain

Now when we have our floral design ready and set, we can move on and create the illustration of a fancy curtain.

First of all we are going to grab the Rectangle Tool (M) from the Tool Panel and to create an arbitrary rectangle.

Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) the rectangle and lock the layer with the original rectangle. We are locking it to make sure not to distort it during our creation process.

Now grab the Mesh Tool (U) and make sure to add new anchor points to the rectangle by clicking exactly on the edge of the rectangle.

Keep applying new anchor points randomly.

Now we are going to apply different tones of gray color to the anchor points. Select the Direct Selection Tool (A) from the Tool Panel and by selecting each individual anchor point apply the gray color. Just make sure to apply the same tone of the gray color to the opposite anchor points.

With the Direct Selection Tool (A) try to adjust the angle of the handles of each anchor point. Just feel free to play around until you create smooth folded parts of the curtain.

When you are satisfied with the result unlock the layer we locked earlier and set the Fill color of the rectangle to #8DC63F. Now we are going to change the Blend Mode of the layer with the Mesh to Hard Light. This will change the color of the curtain to a nice green. Feel free to try out other Blending Modes until you achieve a nice result.

At this moment we will add the floral pattern we created earlier.

Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) the floral shape we made earlier and place it as shown on the picture below.

Don’t forget to align the shape by using Vertical Align Center. Select both shapes and under Object select Blend > Make. It will create a few more floral elements in the middle. To set the exact number of the floral elements we need to bring up the Blending Options box. To do that go to Object > Blend > Blend Options. Set the Spacing to Specified Steps and the value to 3.

Turn the result into an editable shape by selecting Object > Expand.

Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) the row of floral elements and place them as they are below.

Repeat the previous step. To make sure to create equal distance between the rows select all the elements and under the Align Panel hit the Vertical Distribute Space.

Group (Ctrl / Cmd + G) all the elements and place them on the top of the curtain we already created.

Make sure to set the Fill color of the floral elements to #58595B and under the Transparency Panel set the Blending Mode to Overlay. Feel free to try out a combination of Fill colors (make sure to use a gray color, just change the tone) and different type of Blending Modes. You should end up with something similar to this.

Select all the elements we have created so far and Group them (Ctrl / Cmd + G). Grab the Rectangle Tool (M) from the Tool Panel and create the rectangle.

Remove the Fill color and the Stroke color of the rectangle. Select all the elements and under Object select Clipping Mask > Make. It will hide all the elements outside the new rectangle.

This is actually the final result of our vector illustration.

Feel free to use different colors, shapes and angles. The results can be very interesting.

Conclusion

Today we had the opportunity to use the Mesh Tool for creating a 3D illusion for the curtain in vector format. As you can see we didn’t experiment with lots of colors. The most important thing is to find the right balance between different tones of gray color. Blending Mode will do the rest. There are numerous textures you can create. Just be creative. If you happen to have any questions or comments please post them in the comment section below. It would be nice to see your achievements as well. I hope you like this tutorial. Feel free to visit other Mesh Tool tutorials: Create a Halloween Ghost with Mesh Tool and Christmas Greeting Card for more practice. Thank you for following along.

(rb)

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)