I recently read an article titled “What’s Next in Web Design.” The conclusion of the article states:

“Better interaction design, less graphic design. Better user experience, less debates about taste. Faster technology, more reliable design standards.”

What I find interesting is I’ve been seeing the opposite in web trends. With the introduction of more web friendly fonts and more flexibility in development, web design is starting to look more and more artistic and refined. Designers are able to explore their artistic roots with illustration, sketching, painting, etc.

When you look at a site that is so beautifully designed, it just makes you feel good. It’s the intangibles that can make a difference. Things that click tracking, heatmaps, and analytics can’t measure. I also find it interesting that, yes, of course the author is arguing the benefits of minimalist web design. Look at their site. Almost as minimalistic as it gets.

Minimalist design style has its place in web design, but it is far from the end-all for web design. Sites like Apple have been so successful because:
1. Their web design matches their brand style
2. They are able to display big, beautiful photography and not every company can afford that level of photography.
3. The amount of information they have packed into their website demands a simplistic design style in order not to overwhelm their audience.

While I agree that a design that is too cluttered and flowery can be extremely frustrating when I am looking for something specific, but why must it be one or the other? That is the challenge of web design: creating a web experience. Combining form and function so they work together seamlessly.

Would you hire an architect to design a building that meets the needs of keeping you warm and a roof over your head but is a plain box? No. You hire an architect to create something beautiful but still functions as a well structured building.

Bottom line, the minimalist approach works, but not for everyone, and not as often as many people think. Personally, I am seeing more creativity and interesting visuals than something flat and boring but usable. Pairing usability and beauty is a web designer’s job. So rather than casting off graphic design as unnecessary, I foresee it becoming more and more crucial.

Having used computers for almost 30 years, and as a designer of interfaces, I often wonder what’s next. The mouse had been declared dead year ofter year, yet they continue to reign supreme. The recent videos from Microsoft have prompted a lot of discussion and there are often stories about the latest ideas in interface design. Many of these, including the Microsoft vision often champion a Minority Report like interface where the user manipulates an interface in front of them through touch or gestures. The Microsoft videos have tons of this type of interaction. While this is really cool to look at and may actually come to pass for certain applications, I don’t foresee anything like this for the typical desktop user being effective.

The simple reason is laziness. Well, that may be a little harsh. It’s really a matter of muscle fatigue. Touch screen interfaces while very effective on phones and tablets have a serious flaw when it comes to traditional desktop work. Imagine having your arms constantly extended in front of you touching your screen for everything that you now use a mouse for. By the end of an 8 hour day you would be unable to lift your arms. If you put the screen down on the desk to alleviate the stress on your arms than you end up with a strained neck from looking down all day.

The reason keyboards and mice have been around for so long with little change is because they work. They allow the user to rest their arms on the desk and use very little muscular effort to interact with the computer. Any replacement for this arrangement must meet this need. I do see merit and opportunity in touch and gesture interfaces on the desk as an input for an upright screen. This still allows the user to look straight ahead and rest their arms on the desk, yet may allow for a more customized and varied system for input and manipulation. This type of system is explored in the Microsoft video and aspects are seen in ideas like Mouseless and the EXOpc.

The major advantage of this system is that it allows the interface to change according to the needs of the user and the context of the work they are doing. The options available when a user is working in Photoshop could be completely different from what would be available in Microsoft Word. And while touch interfaces are useful, they really won’t reach their potential until they gain a tactile element. A desktop that was adaptable and tactile would offer a much better experience for users and might finally spell the end for the venerable mouse. Until that day comes, mice will continue to inhabit the desks of the world.

Note: I do not in anyway fancy myself the supreme expert of Design. Nor do I think anyone is or ever can be. Design is a living, breathing entity that will forever evolve, push limits, and astound. This blog is simply some exercises that can help broaden your horizons even if it’s the slightest bit. Also keep in mind, they are in no particular order. That being said, on to the list!

1. Do online tutorials.
The dreaded vacuum. As designers, we avoid it like the plague (or should). We strive to break out of our own design shells constantly, but what about our Photoshop shells? Photoshop is such a unique and complex tool, sometimes when we learn how to do something one way, we stick with it. Even if it’s not the most efficient way. Try doing something strange and off the wall – like setting someone on fire. You might learn something new about photoshop and/or a more efficient way to do something.

2. Use a design style from one of the greats.
Sometimes it’s not enough just to look at inspiring pieces from the great graphic designers throughout history; sometimes you need to scoop it up and play with it. Try designing in a style that is opposite of your own. If your design is clean and precise, try designing a piece inspired by Stefan Sagmeister or David Carson. If you love wild and crazy design, try designing something inspired by Josef Muller-Brockmann or Yusaku Kamekura. Obviously, I don’t mean recreating the works. Use some elements and the general style to make something new and unique. It will challenge you and force you to think differently.

3. Use colors you rarely use.
Look at old designs. Do you have a tendency to use blues and grays? Design a piece that is only oranges and yellows. Go to Kuler and find a crazy color palate and stick with it. Splash around in the color wheel and don’t be afraid to go crazy. Sometimes you’ll discover use of color you were afraid to use before.

4. Design upside-down.
I am constantly guilty of this: I start a homepage design and I whip up a heading and navigation that I love. I gain momentum and pretty soon I’m almost done with the design. Oh yeah, I need to design the footer. Well, everything else looks great, so I’ll just throw in a bar of color with text links and call it done. Who scrolls all the way down to the bottom anyway? What? What am I thinking? My design should have love and attention from top to bottom. That’s what makes a truly inspired design. A way to combat this is design upside-down, top to bottom (and no, I don’t mean stand on your head – but I won’t stop you if you want to try). Not only will you give extra attention to things you sometimes forget about, you’ll also approach a design in a very unique way.

5. Steal a fellow designer’s PSD
No, I don’t mean literally. Ask a fellow designer if you can borrow an old PSD of one of their designs. Only use the elements in their design and create something new(don’t add anything, don’t change colors, don’t change fonts, etc). Blow elements up, shrink elements down, do whatever you can to make it different and interesting. By limiting yourself, and using design elements you’re less familiar with, you force yourself to learn new things and see things differently.

There you have it. Obviously some of these exercises are not always going to work for client work, but try to put aside time to design just for the fun of it. Be your own client and always try and push your own limits.

A recent How Magazine article dealing with the creative process led me to think about my own process. From what I can remember, I never went about trying to create a creative process for myself. I simply tried various techniques over the years and have come back to the ones that have consistently worked for me.

For the most part, I start every creative project with words. To me, in the end, you are trying to put certain words and concepts into the mind of the person viewing a particular design solution. This could be a corporate identity, website, poster, email, etc. Unless I know up front what these words are, I’m not sure how I would reach a solution that meets the goals.

After listing out the primary words based on discussions with the client, I begin to work on alternative words by using the Thesaurus. I will list out words and then search on new words that I think are interesting. The result of this is a list of lots of words that spark ideas of other words or related words or short phrases. These become the genesis for everything that follows whether it be a layout, a tagline, an illustration, a photo, a color combination, etc. All of these potential ideas lead back to the language that defines the design problem or the brand as the case may be.

As I get more visual that usually involves a bunch of thumbnails with rough ideas and lots of notes, arrows and asterisks. I hope that I can actually read these notes later and that the things that the arrows are pointing at can be discerned from a blob of ink. The asterisks mean that I think an idea might be pretty good. I might not feel that way the next day, but at that moment it seemed pretty good.

When it comes to writing headlines or ad copy that flow out of the process I tend to work from two directions. I may write some copy and then look for visuals to support them, and what usually happens is that I find some great images that speak to what I am trying to communicate but don’t work with what I have written, so I end up writing copy that works with the image. It’s like designing a living room. If you paint the room and pick out everything in the room and then go shopping for a couch that is going to match, you will never find it. If you start with the couch, you have a lot more flexibility in what you choose for the rest of the room. Not that choosing imagery is like buying a couch. Buying a couch is much more difficult. For that I have to gain the approval of the creative director, my wife.

Once I have a number of ideas in their early stages I take those ideas and try to flesh them out and see how they work in the format of the design. Some ideas that look great in a thumbnail tend to fall flat at full size or simply don’t work as well as they did when I envisioned them in my head. Hopefully some of the ideas do work as planned and even better, they are actually more successful when fully realized.

The final step is to articulate and explain the idea as it relates to the original design problem. Why is this a great solution? If you can’t explain it, you will have a hard time selling it. I’m sure I’ve left some things out and there are always ideas that come out of left field while I am on a run, trying to fall asleep, reading, or watching TV. And while some may call these ideas random and outside of a process, it is usually the process that has my mind ready to accept ideas that may come from outside influences and the process that gets my subconscious working on the problem.

I find learning about people’s creative processes fascinating, so if you have anything to share please feel free to comment on your unique process.

Seeing as How Magazine was nice enough to bring their annual design conference to Denver, I thought it made sense to go down for the day and take in a few sessions. I’ve always been a fan of How Magazine. They tend to have business focus in a lot of their articles and are less about just showing lot’s of nice design work. I have also been to a How Conference before and felt that I got a great deal of inspiration out of the experience. I still remember David Carson’s talk and his great sense of humor.

For this year’s conference I chose to attend sessions by Tony Mikes, Sam Harrison, and John January & Tug McTighe. Tony Mike’s session was titled, “Is Your Agency Interesting.” As an agency owner I was drawn to this session as we are always trying to better differentiate ourselves. I came to the conclusion that I think Imulus is interesting, but that we could probably communicate that more effectively than we are currently and we could also be doing a lot more interesting things. Tony was a very compelling speaker and I will definitely be checking out his Second Wind company.

Next came Sam Harrison’s session on “How to Sell Your Ideas to Bosses, Clients and Other Decision Makers.” An author of several books, I found Sam to be a very polished and interesting speaker. His ideas were well organized and I learned a lot that I can apply to how we present ideas at Imulus. The idea that he left us with, that it was “All About Energy,” really summed it up for me. If you put all your energy into preparing and presenting your idea your chances of success are much higher. If you aren’t excited about your own idea, how can you expect the person on the other side of the table to be excited.

By far the most unusual session was “Everything I Needed to Know About Advertising I Learned from Star Wars.” John and Tug were very entertaining in their cleverly constructed presentation. Utilizing lessons drawn from all the Star Wars films, they were able to show parallels where those lessons apply to the life of a creative. And while the lessons were good, the heart of the presentation was the humor and clever concept. I will always remember that there is a Death Star out there ready to kill my next great idea.

The resource center had some interesting booths and lots of quality shwag. Adobe was showing off CS5 and bunches of paper companies were hoping that designers will continue to design printed pieces for a bit longer. Threadless was nice enough to give out free drinks at the happy hour at the end of the day. Thanks for the beer!