I have to admit and say that over the years I've always gone down the 'present client with 2-3 options, and end up having the worst selected' route. This article is excellent at suggesting a different approach.
http://fadtastic.net/2008/05/26/getting-design-approval-the-single-mockup-theory/
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Friday, 23 May 2008
Why do I wake up in a bad mood?
Why is it that sometimes one can have a really great day, be inspired, feel fresh and on top of the world, go to sleep and then wake up the next day feeling totally the opposite - uninspired, angry at the world, unmotivated, tired, fed up and miserable.
Well that was me yesterday, and there's no real reason for it apart from maybe a little bit of a late night. For artistic, creative people, I think this is quite a normal thing. I don't like it though. I'm generally very 'feely' and emotional and I think that is what enables creativity a lot of the time, but sometimes it just annoys me and I really want be in control of these feelings.
I think it's important to 'fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith' first thing in the morning before you do anything. I do remember doing that a couple of days ago, and it must have helped as I was inspired that day, but today I woke up and the first thing I was worrying and stressing about was what my plans were for the weekend and how I was going to get from one pub to the other without needing a taxi (lol). So Jesus brings peace, by his Holy Spirit, we know this because of John 17:33 - "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace; in this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.". So it's a good place to begin the day.
Well that was me yesterday, and there's no real reason for it apart from maybe a little bit of a late night. For artistic, creative people, I think this is quite a normal thing. I don't like it though. I'm generally very 'feely' and emotional and I think that is what enables creativity a lot of the time, but sometimes it just annoys me and I really want be in control of these feelings.
I think it's important to 'fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith' first thing in the morning before you do anything. I do remember doing that a couple of days ago, and it must have helped as I was inspired that day, but today I woke up and the first thing I was worrying and stressing about was what my plans were for the weekend and how I was going to get from one pub to the other without needing a taxi (lol). So Jesus brings peace, by his Holy Spirit, we know this because of John 17:33 - "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace; in this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.". So it's a good place to begin the day.
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Let's innovate, not duplicate
I work for a very large NGO, and am their web designer. I have been really challenged recently about not duplicating other people's creativity but innovating and coming up with my own ideas. I was in a meeting and the person running the presentation was showing some concepts for a new site which (design wise) was a rip off of the BBC website and wasn't very innovative from a design perspective. They asked me what I thought, and I said half-jokingly 'it's a bit 2006' (which was when the BBC new home page was designed). I hope I didn't offend them! But I am having a personal war against my own experience of not innovating but duplicating.
For years I did this, because I had very low budget jobs where design was definitely not high on the priorities for expenditure and I myself had little time to spend on it, so it was a case of ripping of another person's work and just changing a few colours or sizes. Then after that I found it was easier for me to just reproduce what I had done for other client's sites than be thinking about ripping off a current web design that might have been fresh.
What did that result in? A load of my sites looking very 2003-2004 for a long period of time. I am not proud of my old portfolio from a design perspective. When I recently joined a design agency and met a load of creative and innovative people I was inspired by them, and thought I'm never going to do this again. If there is a small budget for design in future jobs, I'll either not do the job, or really press for the budget to be increased because in today's web sphere it's really important!
So, don't duplicate, innovate. If you are a creative person you can call on those God given gifts that you were born with and utilise them to make something beautiful. If you struggle, look around for inspiration but be thinking 'how can I improve this', not 'how can I nick this'. I speak to myself first and foremost.
You can do it!! Get creative.
For years I did this, because I had very low budget jobs where design was definitely not high on the priorities for expenditure and I myself had little time to spend on it, so it was a case of ripping of another person's work and just changing a few colours or sizes. Then after that I found it was easier for me to just reproduce what I had done for other client's sites than be thinking about ripping off a current web design that might have been fresh.
What did that result in? A load of my sites looking very 2003-2004 for a long period of time. I am not proud of my old portfolio from a design perspective. When I recently joined a design agency and met a load of creative and innovative people I was inspired by them, and thought I'm never going to do this again. If there is a small budget for design in future jobs, I'll either not do the job, or really press for the budget to be increased because in today's web sphere it's really important!
So, don't duplicate, innovate. If you are a creative person you can call on those God given gifts that you were born with and utilise them to make something beautiful. If you struggle, look around for inspiration but be thinking 'how can I improve this', not 'how can I nick this'. I speak to myself first and foremost.
You can do it!! Get creative.
I am passionate about... Healing the sick!
Let me just explain some background first before I get going. (if you want to skip the intro and just get on to the exciting stuff go down to the bit about 'The Weekend').
I am a follower of Jesus (a Christian - though I prefer the former label as the latter can sadly have negative connotations). That means I follow the teachings of, and have a living relationship with the man who came to Earth 2000 years ago, was born in Bethlehem in Israel, did lots of cool stuff, and then died and rose again. Lots of people will admit they either know about or believe in Jesus, but some people don't believe that he rose again (overcoming death) and was/is the Son of God. Well I do. I don't want preach at people on a soapbox, but I want to use this blog to share my experiences of this living relationship, and how exciting it can be to be a follower of Jesus in today's world. I'll also use this blog for some ramblings on the subject of design and web development so the two should hopefully mix well, seeing as God is the most creative person ever and he invented creativity.
So... Healing the sick!
It was something Jesus did a lot of when he was about, and seeing as he conquered death and is still alive, he still does it today, but through us his followers. How do I know this? Well it's written about and promised in the Bible, and secondly I've seen it happen!
Why did Jesus go around healing the sick? Because he loved people, and wanted to bring the reality of his Kingdom to Earth, and in his Kingdom there is no pain, sickness or disease. So we go about bringing Jesus' Kingdom reality wherever we go. Read the gospels (first four books in the New Testament for more).
The Weekend
At the weekend I went to play keyboards for a meeting in London. The meeting was basically getting a load of Jesus followers together and training up and then sending them out to heal the sick on the streets which is something I've been really passionate about and keen to learn about for some time. Well, after about 3 hours of teaching, inter-spursed with tea and cookies, we went out and began. Mark Marx was the person heading up the workshops, and he has developed this model which is supposed to get Christians out of their comfy churches and on to the streets - bringing Jesus to the people, opposite to the traditional church stance of bringing people into the church. Jesus was always on the streets with the people as he cared massively for them, he was rarely in a building with a load of his followers putting on services which he hoped people would come to (but there is a time and a place for that). So Mark taught us to go out and then we did, but the emphasis was firstly on showing people God's love and not just about wowing them, and definately NOT freaking them out with 'Holier than thou' Christian antics or jargon. It was about being real with people.
I saw about 4 people healed that day, in a 2-3 hour session on the streets. All we did was go out, invite people if they needed healing to sit down on chairs and have us pray for them. There was one guy in his 70s who got complete healing from years of back pain (comments welcome if I get any of this wrong), I saw a lady have her legs straighten up as her back was healed, I saw a young guy about 14 get healed from a bad leg or knee done at a football game, plus we saw loads of people touched by the presence of God and the kindness He was showing. People were smiling, seemed happy and were experience a sense of God's love for them as we did this stuff.
I am passionate about healing the sick! I am more passionate about people finding out how much God loves them, and at the weekend it happened lots! I want to see more of it, and do more of it!
I am a follower of Jesus (a Christian - though I prefer the former label as the latter can sadly have negative connotations). That means I follow the teachings of, and have a living relationship with the man who came to Earth 2000 years ago, was born in Bethlehem in Israel, did lots of cool stuff, and then died and rose again. Lots of people will admit they either know about or believe in Jesus, but some people don't believe that he rose again (overcoming death) and was/is the Son of God. Well I do. I don't want preach at people on a soapbox, but I want to use this blog to share my experiences of this living relationship, and how exciting it can be to be a follower of Jesus in today's world. I'll also use this blog for some ramblings on the subject of design and web development so the two should hopefully mix well, seeing as God is the most creative person ever and he invented creativity.
So... Healing the sick!
It was something Jesus did a lot of when he was about, and seeing as he conquered death and is still alive, he still does it today, but through us his followers. How do I know this? Well it's written about and promised in the Bible, and secondly I've seen it happen!
Why did Jesus go around healing the sick? Because he loved people, and wanted to bring the reality of his Kingdom to Earth, and in his Kingdom there is no pain, sickness or disease. So we go about bringing Jesus' Kingdom reality wherever we go. Read the gospels (first four books in the New Testament for more).
The Weekend
At the weekend I went to play keyboards for a meeting in London. The meeting was basically getting a load of Jesus followers together and training up and then sending them out to heal the sick on the streets which is something I've been really passionate about and keen to learn about for some time. Well, after about 3 hours of teaching, inter-spursed with tea and cookies, we went out and began. Mark Marx was the person heading up the workshops, and he has developed this model which is supposed to get Christians out of their comfy churches and on to the streets - bringing Jesus to the people, opposite to the traditional church stance of bringing people into the church. Jesus was always on the streets with the people as he cared massively for them, he was rarely in a building with a load of his followers putting on services which he hoped people would come to (but there is a time and a place for that). So Mark taught us to go out and then we did, but the emphasis was firstly on showing people God's love and not just about wowing them, and definately NOT freaking them out with 'Holier than thou' Christian antics or jargon. It was about being real with people.
I saw about 4 people healed that day, in a 2-3 hour session on the streets. All we did was go out, invite people if they needed healing to sit down on chairs and have us pray for them. There was one guy in his 70s who got complete healing from years of back pain (comments welcome if I get any of this wrong), I saw a lady have her legs straighten up as her back was healed, I saw a young guy about 14 get healed from a bad leg or knee done at a football game, plus we saw loads of people touched by the presence of God and the kindness He was showing. People were smiling, seemed happy and were experience a sense of God's love for them as we did this stuff.
I am passionate about healing the sick! I am more passionate about people finding out how much God loves them, and at the weekend it happened lots! I want to see more of it, and do more of it!
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