The first is that while I do love the process of designing a new site from the ground up, I rarely release a site that, when it’s launched, utilizes everything I want to do over the life of the design. As a result, my site becomes a work in progress. 

Version 2a was the first iteration of webclique.net

I try to hit all the important things in my launch (initial look/feel, links, about me, etc.) and then over the coming days/months I add other elements/functions and fine tune as time rolls on. Each new major set of revisions ends up changing the current release number of the site. In this way, my personal sites end up operating more like a software company than a traditional design and release site. This process of natural site evolution ends up feeling more comfortable to me than having everything done up front and remaining visually static for the life of the site. This leads directly to the second reason I work in this manner.

There are so many good designer-based sites out there these days, but a lot of the time they feel so static to me because they go up, they stay for five or six years without any major (design) revisions, and then they are replaced with something new. The content, of course, changes constantly because of the nature of these sites primarily being weblogs and platforms for speech. Yet, the visuals of the site, the presentation layer and the inner workings don’t generally change (or evolve) much throughout the course of the version’s lifetime. 

In this way most sites go the course of more traditional print materials and collateral. You design, you publish and that shiny new design becomes a static (and sometimes visually stagnant) piece of collateral branding that gets updated every few years with a shiny new piece of collateral branding that then becomes static (and sometimes visually stagnant) piece of blah blah blah… (insert universal image for cycle repeating itself here.)

I think that what people forget sometimes is that we have been given a dynamic, immediate medium. So, why are we utilizing it like it was printed collateral? Why don’t sites evolve and change daily, weekly, monthly? They should. I’m getting off the point, so let me refocus.

I mainly re-organize, refresh and re-arrange little visual portions of my site from time-to-time to reset my visitor’s visual palettes (as well as my own.) The general structure of the site does not change extensively, because frankly I like to get my mileage out of a site structure, but swapping out or souping up the visuals and portions of the layout through an intermediate release can help to ward off the feeling of stagnation. Again, I’m not against a site design staying in place for five or six years, but a change up every now and again can make the site feel fresh and visually re-engage visitors in my opinion.

Of course this doesn’t really translate to client sites as these are built to be either static or dynamic designs based on the initial brief. I’m mainly speaking about our professional sites as designers. There are some individuals that are already taking this step by making their sites a living portfolio, while others are encouraging that change, but periodic visual change is still the exception rather than the norm. The “hold it all in until the re-design” mentality seems to be the way of things.

Design experimentation can create critical mass, and our sites can be the catalyst to that if we let them.

New fire element wallet design from our side project, Dolls for Friends

We were so excited when we found out that one of our illustrations had been chosen to be made into a wallet by the awesome Portland, Oregon accessory company, Tinymeat. Our excitement was compounded four-fold when we learned that we were going to do three more wallets to complete a themed series on the “elements.” 

Our first wallet and element, fire, was released today. All we’ve see so far are the photos, but the man himself, Merch Mikey, said that they turned out great. I’ll be heading into Portland tomorrow to pick up a few of them that we get to keep and then it’s time to set in on finishing the other three elements. The next one to be released should be water and then Earth and wind. Collect all four, make sure they face East, and they should bring you added value on the value menu… of life. Hawr hawr.

They can be seen here at the Tinymeat store.

Jason Santa Maria’s wonderful redesign is a powerful example of what can be done with weblogs

I just noticed Jason Santa Maria has re-designed his site after five long years. While I always thought his old site design was wonderfully unique and a great example of his talent, his new version takes design on the web to a whole new level. 

He has masterfully utilized css in a very forward thinking fashion that allows him to actually art direct and design each post. This fine tuned approach to design gives him the ability to lay style on top of each entry essentially making his entire weblog a living portfolio of design. The only other site I’ve see to really utilize this effect well has been A Brief Message, which takes editorial writing to a whole new level by applying a new style over the top every time they publish.

Looking through JSM’s site code (and structure) a bit and reading over his first post of the new version, detailing his rationale for the change, has really got me to thinking about whether this could be a completely new direction for designer-based websites. 

As a designer I’m always looking for opportunities to extend my design abilities through a variety of projects (personal and professional.) Sometimes coming up with new ideas and avenues can be difficult, but this method of design actually provides a virtually limitless base of opportunities for design exploration-just by initiating the a new post. Amazing!

Congrats to my fellow ALA-er, Jason, on his wonderful new design.

Faux Absolute Positioning by Eric Sol

CSS layout is awesome, except when your layout calls for a header, a footer, and columns in between. Use float, and content changes can cause columns to wrap. Use absolute positioning, and your footer can crash into your columns. Add the complexity of drag-and-drop layouts, and a new technique is needed. Enter “faux absolute positioning.” Align every item to a predefined position on the grid (as with absolute positioning), but objects will still affect the normal flow (as with float).

Sketching in Code: the Magic of Prototyping by David Verba

The rise of Ajax and rich internet applications has thrown the limitations of traditional wireframing into painful relief. When you leave the world of page-based interactions, how do you document all but the simplest interactions? Flowcharts and diagrams don’t work. Prototyping saves the day by focusing on the application and conveying its “magic.” Prototypes can help you sell a decision that is fundamentally or radically different from the client’s current solution or application. Sit a stakeholder down in front of a working prototype and show him or her why your approach is compelling.

Okay, now you know the details. Go read it.

The first series I went through was the very basic, CSS Website Design by Eric Meyer. I actually spent the full 6.25 hours going through the series despite the fact that there was really nothing new to me. What I did find interesting, though, were all of the little css factoids and things that Eric weaved throughout the entire course. As a result, I ended up taking a page or two of notes about more obscure css stuff that I was not aware of before.

That series got me pumped up, so I ended up jumping into the other series presented on the site, CSS For Designers hosted by web-phenoms Molly Holzschlag and Andy Clarke. Again, with this series, there’s really not a whole lot that has been brand new to me, but the tidbits and additional commentary between the two designers has been insightful. I’ve added another page or two of css tidbits to my notes, and I’ll probably get another couple before the end of the series. 

Most people would probably not even care to take the time to designate 13 hours or so of their freedom to revisit topics that they already feel they have well in hand. But, I started thinking, when would you be able to spend 13 hours of your time with three of the foremost designers and coders picking their brain about portions of their design process and what they think about the rudimentary aspects of css and design? Mmmm never. Yet, in these two series I feel as if I’ve accomplished just that. Who knows what it will be next? Maybe Windows 95 for haters, we’ll just have to see.

So, if you’re a Firefox user, please get on over to the Mozilla site next Tuesday and download the newest version. Mozilla has also announced that they are going to attempt to break a world record for most downloads in a 24 hour period. Support your nerdiness and help to break that record. You can read a bit more about the release on Webmonkey.

In order to combat that personally, I try to set aside an hour or so every day to hit great sites like lynda.com, Smashing Magazine or other inspirational/how-to sites for tutorials that I can use to expand my horizons a bit. I try to grab tuts from a variety different areas of interest because I’m a bit scatter-brained and frenetic to begin with, but I also have a huge area of personal interest that I need to satisfy. The added benefit of carving this time out of my day, aside from keeping my edge from dulling, is that it provides me with a chance to work on things that are not client related, which I find is another unspoken need, and one that designers so often ignore.

The practice of doing personal, non-client related work is critical to a designers well being and state of mind. The work you do doesn’t necessarily need to be fit for public consumption, but the need to create on one’s own terms should not be passed by. These projects, while perhaps nothing more than personal studies or experiments, can free the mind from the constraints of designing and creating according to a brief and allow us to mentally step away from our client concerns for a short period of time. I’ve found that when I spend time working on my own experiments/projects it helps me to work through other client problems that I was unable to navigate because I was too close to the project.

I know this is all stuff that probably seems rote and repetitive, and I’m sure that it has been said on other sites at other times, but we too often don’t think about the value of personal development. You never know when one of those little side projects will become a big side project and perhaps that will then become a part-time job or a whole-time job. I mean weirder things have happened—just look at Twitter.

The completed site also marked our first foray into the Drupal CMS environment. I was a little apprehensive when we found out that the existing site was built on that platform, but with a couple days of solid reading and spelunking their massive forums, my knowledge about Drupal grew rather rapidly. I’m now considering ripping eljl out of its current state (straight xhtml/css/php) and porting it over to the newest version of the open-source wonder. But that’s a thought for another day.

I’d forgotten what it meant to be completely out on your own, tracking down leads, chasing money, coding, designing, meeting with clients, tackling self-promotion, etc. It’s a huge job owning your own design studio; especially when there are only two of us at this point. I can’t imagine what the Pentagrams, Weiden + Kennedys and Happy Cogs of the world have to go through to make their ends meet and stay afloat.

Despite all the hassles, long hours and stresses of wondering about the next paycheck, it’s nice to be able to sit back at the end of the day and know that you answer to yourself (and clients too, but mainly yourself.) It’s the life we’ve always wanted to lead, and it is slowly, finally becoming a reality.

Creating More Using Less Effort with Ruby on Rails by Michael Slater

The “why” of Ruby on Rails comes down to productivity, says Michael Slater. Web applications that share three characteristics—they’re database-driven, they’re new, and they have needs not well met by a typical CMS—can be built much more quickly with Ruby on Rails than with PHP, .NET, or Java, once the investment required to learn Rails has been made. Does your web app fall within the RoR “sweet spot?”

and

Getting Started with Ruby on Rails by Dan Benjamin

The “how” of Ruby on Rails: Hivelogic’s Dan Benjamin prepares non-Rails developers, designers, and other creative professionals for their first foray into Rails. Learn what Ruby on Rails is (and isn’t), and where it fits into the spectrum of web development and design. See through the myths surrounding this powerful young platform, and learn how to approach working with it.