When the #%*@ just won’t stick and your deadline is fast approaching, being a designer is not fun. It’s a problem every designer has faced, many times. And if you’re looking for inspiration, everyone and their uncle is ready to tell you how to find it. Even me.

But, when it comes down to it, when it’s just you and a blank, flourine-polymer, Photoshop canvas, what does any of this really mean? It’s your hump and you have to figure out how to get over it.

nothing sticks to teflon

I can tell you to start with the basics, the things you know have to be there, like functionality, content and so forth. Create a grid. Map out these elements. And once you have done that, I can tell you to refer to past work. What has worked before, to solve a similar problem? I can tell you all this and it may even help, but when you come up on that hump, you may have only managed to push it off, as apposed to climb on top of it.

There is a simple trick I have found to work quite well for getting over the creative hump. It is simply to duck out. Duck out and do something fun. It doesn’t have to be a long endeavor. It only needs to be long enough for you to actually enjoy what you are doing at the moment.

To the layman, this might appear to be procrastination. But a good designer knows, this is actually a carefully crafted plan, to forget that they are a designer at all. You might laugh, but I honestly believe that this is one of the things that separates the feathers from the fluff, in this industry.

So in keeping with that spirit, here are a few blinks, from positive exploits.

My life as of late, has been nothing but work. I’ve been caught in this vicious loop that interconnects my bed, my computer and my bar tender. Seriously, I’ve been that pathetic. I’ve been so over worked that past couple weeks, that it’s all I can do to muster up enough energy to drag my sorry self to the local bar to “unwind”.

My day is like this:

• 5am Wake up to girlfriend making breakfast (we have an open loft, sound travels).
• 6am Lightly start to doze off again.
• 7am Wake up (for real)
• 7am – 7pm Check email, email clients, fix crisis, email, call project meeting, phone conference, reply to email, and maybe (if I’m lucky) design.
• 7pm – 7.5pm Stretches (while discussing with the girlfriend where to go this evening).
• 7.5pm – 8.5pm Go to Dovre for a pair of dirty martinis.

I like a good adventure, a change of pace. I just haven’t had the energy. So every night, for the last few weeks, we have ended up at the Dovre. Don’t get me wrong, I like the place. We treck all the way across the city for a decent dive bar and they don’t get much better than that.

This, lack of having anything that could even remotely resemble a life, next to a dry stick in the mud, has led to a small problem.

Lauren and I have been hooked on dirty martinis. It’s like Gatorade for the over worked – Helps you unwind while replenishing valuable bodily salts. Anyone who knows dive bars can see where this is going.

Most dive bars aren’t known for their martinis, and most people looking for a martini, don’t go to dive bars. That being said, the Dovre makes some pretty damn good martinis. The problem is, we like them dirty. For a place that only houses 2 martini glasses, you can imagine what we were doing to their olive juice resources, showing up every day as we did. Supply couldn’t meet demand.

So last night we got to thinking, why doesn’t anyone just sell olive juice? (Of course they do)When you think about it, dive bar or martini bar, the odds are against you. In your average jar of olives, you just don’t get the juice to olive ratio needed to support a mean dirty martini habit.

The problem clearly is, the olive. For the dirty martini drinker, they take up unprecedented real estate in the olive jar.

So last night, inspired by Elvis, one of our wonderful tenders of the bar at the Dovre, I came up with Elvis Has Left The Building Olive Juice™.

It’s the perfect solution for the over worked web designer and under sauced, dirty martini aficionado.

Available by request.

I’m not one to put myself through extensive pains finding the right title for business cards. I am a designer. I design for the web. Simple enough, right? The truth, however, is that it really isn’t. It’s a curious thing when, after all this time, the title web designer isn’t specific enough. On more than a handbag full of hands, worth of occasions, have I had the following conversation:

person: So, what do you do?

me: I’m a web designer.

person: So, what do you do?

According to A List Apart’s Web Design Survey Results, only 19.9% of people surveyed in the industry identified themselves as “web designers” by title. This could of course be in part due to the fact that the others are not web designers, but rather web developers or UI designers. So where is this line drawn? I am a web designer, a developer, a programmer, a user interface specialist, an information architect etc. etc. Do we just have too many ways of identifying ourselves?

The Web Presence Therapist

At times, I think the most appropriate title for myself would be “Web Presence Therapist”, because that’s just what it feels like. Have a seat. Take a load off. Tell me all about your web based troubles. Let it all out . . . but don’t you think that has more to do with how YOU want people to experience it, as apposed to how they want to experience it?

In the end, your web person ( insert title here ) is likely performing tasks clearly outside the scope his or her title eludes to. I’m convinced that the phrase “wearing multiple hats” didn’t carry the same meaning prior to the web designer / developer. We are expected to be the one stop solution to all “your” problems. Aside from the unbalanced fact that a majority of early web designers and developers were geeks to the core, it’s no wonder early titles of the code writing guild, like “web master”, emerged in the fledgling state of this industry. It’s a ridiculous term on every level, no doubt. But somehow, in retrospect, I think it may have been the most fitting. Here’s to you, Web Masters of the world!

There is one thing you’re sure to learn when you conduct a survey: just how many things you did wrong. My first attempt at conducting a survey of women web designers, made clear (sometimes embarrassingly so), just how many things I hadn’t thought through very well. It’s been a learning experience.

Back in late April of this year, A List Apart began the first truly comprehensive survey of people who make websites. This, following criticism in the media about the lack of gender diversity at web conferences.

I took an immediate interest in both the initial criticism over gender disparity and the response by A List Apart to conduct the Web Design Survey. One of the primary reasons I took such an interest in this, was because my personal experience was to the contrary.

I personally know more female web designers than male and, in fact, I ended up partnering with one of them to start Object Adjective.

For this reason, I decided to conduct my own small industry survey, Women Who Design the Web, to highlight a cross section of personal experiences, by women working in web design and development.

The first Women Who Design the Web Survey was conducted from May 4, 2007 to October 22, 2007. Over the next weeks (possibly months), I will share some of these insights and personal experiences. Though many of the responses I got were predictable, some were not and the stories paint a very interesting picture.

Below, are the findings to the general questions I asked in this survey.

In addition to these more general questions, participants were asked open questions about their experiences working in web design and development, whether they felt web design was perceived as a masculine industry and what they thought could be done to improve and balance diversity within the community.

These findings, as well as a study into the findings of A List Apart’s Web Deign Survey are to come.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t rule it entirely out, but chances are…

Anyway, this week I got to thinking, you know those moments where you just know you’re pushing things in the wrong direction? Like trying to back a car into a tent, or, I guess, pushing a cart up a hill? Sure, it might work, but chances are… Let me be the one blogger who isn’t going to talk about the iPhone or mini-feeds or Quicktime updates this week. No. I’m going to talk about something much more rudimentary and much more important to designers: inspiration (and not forcing the square peg in the round hole)

Sometimes, the absurd is the best channel for inspiration and when the peg doesn’t fit, most people will first try using force. When that fails, they will just give up. The hacker, on the other hand, will whittle the peg down so it is nice a round and will slide right in. The web developer needs to do better. The developer needs to assess the situation and understand that holes and pegs all need to work together and then come up with a set of standards.

After a week of “crap my programs don’t run after installing the Quicktime updates” (crummy, I already broke one of my promises), I thought I’d take a step back and remind everyone why they got into this industry in the first place. It’s not about computers. No really, it’s not. It’s not about designing the next big networking disaster, although at times I really need to remind myself of this. No. It’s about social change.

If you don’t agree with me, well you probably shouldn’t be working in web design. The internet is, more than anything else, a vehicle by which to affect change. Be it accessible information, nearly instant communications or even rating your local burrito stand (which by the way, is quite terrible), the internet is this. As a web designer, you shoulder a great responsibility.

The trend is growing to be ever more apparent. When 3 of the 4 applications you’re working on have pretty notable overlap and the 4th is a just a mashup of the other 3, you have to stop and wonder, are we not just backing cars into tents? The overall trend in development is barreling towards frameworks and libraries and the notion of a “freelance designer” is increasingly becoming a misnomer. As the web itself is bringing the world closer together, so too is it bringing web designers closer together. Hence, the Amish don’t make good web developers.

In 2000, there were 198,000 in the US. Of those, exactly 0 were listed as working in the field of web design. Surprising? Not in the slightest, I guess. But sometimes it just feels like there may be more out there than they would have you believe.

I’m at the edge of my seat, awaiting this weekend for WordCamp 2007. With the ever growing number of bloggers taking to the web everyday adding their 2 cents, we can expect a mighty large purse, right?

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Delivering under tight deadlines is pretty much what you’re in for, if you’re a web designer. Knowing how to handle it, is what will make you a designer of the web. As many times as I’ve wanted to pull my hair out with unrealistic deadlines and “last minutes”, I also get my adrenaline fix out of it (not that I care to share this with clients ~ these are invisible pixels). I’m guessing, if you’re a web designer, you’re with me on this (don’t worry, you don’t have to admit it out loud).

Well, being as much a junkie as the next developer, I’m the first to to admit there is a limit. So here are some simple tips for how to manage your time so that the next time you get that “I needed it yesterday” call, you can calmly deliver in 3 days (seriously, nothing takes less than 3 days, whatever the task). When all is said and done, your 1 hour rush project is going to occupy you to some degree, over the next 3 days. Accept this. Plan for it. It will make your life less stressful.

That being said, a 3 day rush is almost unheard of. You’re probably looking at something that will take 2 or 3 weeks at least. So what can you do to help reduce the time you need to spend and squeeze this extra project into your schedule (and produce something that doesn’t suck)?

topside down

The war was on. Time was short. And on May 6, 1918 Congress set the rate for air mail postage at 24¢. In a mad rush to beat the inaugural flight on May 15, the fine artists at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing produced the finest example of rushed product ever. But don’t think you’ll be so lucky. In fact, the USPS was frantically trying to reacquire the 100 out 2 million air postage stamps that went out inverted. Turned out to be one the most lucrative mistakes ever.

So, you may have noticed the changing logo in the header. It’s not entirely related to this post. It’s an ongoing project I starting when I first published repeatPenguin. Though making time for it is at the very least, challenging, the idea is to continuously add to the header logo throughout the year. I’m keeping a record of the variances in the graveyard.

the seat of one’s pants

That’s not the way things work for web designers. Mistakes are generally considered bad. You can’t avoid them entirely, but if you cut the fat out of your process, you’ll have that extra few moments to QA, and that can be the one thing that lets you hold tight to your sanity.

Systems will save you. I still struggle with this every day. The hardest thing in web design is managing. Prior to starting my own design firm, I was fortunate enough to work in variety of outfits, from design lackey to creative consultant to managing my own team of designers. Each place I worked, I learned something new, got a little bit more proficient. That said, I still find myself flying by the seat of my pants nearly every day.

The tricks that have helped me a great deal fall into 2 categories. The first being organization.

Having systems in place will earn you your wings. Have a system. From naming files, storing files and managing time lines.

These tasks should be wrote. You don’t want to waste your time looking for emails, hunting for files or saving out file versions. There are loads of tools out there to help you. Personally, my life depends on two. First, Office Time and Gmail. Between the two, I can track my hours (very important) with the click of the mouse and find all my correspondences. Throw in Google Calendar and you’ve got the basis for a business.

The second category could be labeled quite simply “don’t reinvent the wheel.” This is where we can talk about frameworks. I’m not talking about prefab templates. I’ve never found them very useful and if your goal is to become a stronger designer/developer, I don’t think they are very helpful. Rather than templates, I’m talking about usable frameworks. We’ve all seen frameworks for Javascript, PHP, Java and so forth. They are designed to serve as a set of tools and libraries to assist in conventional tasks. If you apply this thinking to CSS, you can save yourself a lot of work.

Every project I’ve worked on, there are basic style sets in common. I have always preferred keeping all my CSS in one document, thus limiting server hits and giving myself a visual cascade I can see all at once. Clearly commenting your styles and using a standard naming convention goes a long way.

if it floats (your boat)

Stick to what works for you. In the midst of writing this article, I came across this brilliant article by Jeff Croft on ALA. Go figure. But he hits on some great points on this topic, if you want to pros and cons. Me, I’ve found a single CSS file with clearly marked code works best. I have a core framework CSS files, that zeros out all the browser defaults and sets up all of my globals and typical architectural classes. This is just a framework, I haven’t actually applied style to any of it. This step gives you a leap into the next project. You can start with something clean and organized, right off the bat.

In February 2007, Jason Kottke published information showing the low percentage of female speakers at conferences about design, technology, and the web. Among the conferences under fire was An Event Apart. Jeffrey Zeldman, who founded the conference along with Eric Meyer, has since been adamant about getting the facts.

Take The Survey

My purpose here is find out what women who ARE working in web design and development, have to say about the disparities and what they think can be done to improve things.

This is a new thing for me, so please let me know if there is anything I can do to improve this process or if there is anything I grossly left out. Thank you for participating.

I’m curious to know what you think.

What would you like to see as a designer or developer?

What would you like to see as a client, looking for a great designer or developer?

Leave a comment. Let me know what I can do to make this the best job site around, for designers, developers, and yeah, penguins.

Sidereel goes to Public Beta

The other exciting news this week is the long awaited launch of Sidereel, into Public Beta. It’s in rough beta form, but it’s working great and looking great. Cheers Lauren, for designing a super cute interface. Please let us know what you think.

I’ve been in the web design racket a long time. I’ve done the freelance thing, worked for agencies and now run a firm with my partner Lauren. Here are 5 key things I’ve learned along the way, that I hope will be helpful in your next project.

1. It’s going to cost more and take longer than your client expects

I’m starting with this, because if you can’t close the deal, well the rest is irrelevant. In all the time I’ve spent working as a web designer, I’ve only encountered 3 clients who had realistic expectations about cost and time. Everybody wants everything cheap and they want it yesterday. If you’ve every designed a website for anyone, I’m sure you know this all to well. Knowing how to handle the unrealistic expectations of a client will make or break you in this business.

I got into web design because I enjoy design and I’m pretty good at it, but it didn’t take me long, working as a freelancer, to realize you really need to be a salesman to make it in this industry. Clients don’t always know what to expect when hiring a web designer. It may be their first time or they may have formed expectations after working with another designer who didn’t know how to sell himself/herself. Either way, you need to know what you have to offer and why things will take and cost what quote. My experience is that most clients just don’t know what to expect and if you explain things to them realistically, everyone is better off. The key thing is not to cut corners and make promises you can’t keep. Nobody wins that way. If you want some tips, Andrew Neitlich sums this up very nicely in this article.

2. Know what your client wants

I’ve found it to be a fifty-fifty split. Half the time the client knows what he or she wants and half the time the client only thinks they do. It is your job as the designer to provide direction. The key is research, research, research.

1. Find out who your clients target user is
2. Find out what terms they search for
3. Find out what they expect from the services.

If you know this, you’ll be able to give advise.

3. You are the expert, so Act like one

One of the most important things I learned doing freelance was that you have to act the way you want to be teated. You are an expert in your field. Act like one and your clients will respect you. Don’t let clients push you around. It’s important to hear them out. After all, they are experts in their field. But when it comes down to it, stick to you guns. If you think something’s a bad idea, tell them and tell them why.

4. Get specific

A vague wish list from the client isn’t going to cut it. Have a goal for every page. Rachel McAlpine said it best, clients all want the same things: more traffic, more action, more customers and more income.

Having a goal for every page helps everyone. It helps you as a designer, by giving you a better sense of the whole and it helps the client, well, in the obvious way. Take the extra time when meeting with the client, to cover the fine points. This pays off in a huge way and ends up saving you time.

5. Resources are the cat’s pajamas (this part is fun)

Having a good arsenal web design and development resources is crucial. Well, maybe not. But, it mighty useful and usually fun. Here is a list of some of my favorites (and I really had to force myself not to put this at the top of the list).

First up, browsershots.org. Browsershots is an online application that takes screenshots of your website, on multiple platforms, in multiple browsers. Check this out.

Next up is 256 Pixels. This tool is actually intended to help in designing favicon icons, but I’ve found it a very useful color palette tool. Ever want a detailed, pixel by pixel color map of an image you’re working on? This tool does just that.

And following that, we have ColorBlender and Color Palette Generator, both splendid color palette tools.