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I am a graphic designer specializing in WordPress theme design and customization. Click on the thumbnails for some examples of my recent work:
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I’ve recently begun to see the Twitter widget in the sidebar of blogs here and there, and like this post at Lifehack.org, I have wondered why. Why do I need to know that people are doing right now? Why do I need to know that KCtheStickle is watching QVC right now, or that jaydblackman is still sick with a stomach flu? As if bareing one’s soul blogging isn’t enough, now people can publish on that blog exactly what they’re doing every other minute. Are we that desperate to connect with others… to be known and understood… to tell the internets every detail of our lives? Lifehack had some creative, out of the box suggestions about how to use Twitter productively, but for now I’m still thinking it’s just too much information. What do you think?
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Once the comp is approved by the client, I start the process of moving the design from Illustrator to code. Sometimes I will use Illustrator’s built-in feature that allows you to break your image into “slices” and then Illustrator will spit it out into an HTML file. This feature alone has saved me lots of time. Unfortunately, this sets everything up into tables in the HTML, and I really prefer to stick to CSS these days, so there is some rework involved, but it still saves some time.
I use Dreamweaver to develop the site, and I run the images through Adobe Image Ready to optimize them. I always test the site in multiple browsers because there are small differences between the way that IE and Firefox display things. Once the site is fully tested it’s time to launch!
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Inspiration has struck. Now what?
Before I do anything, I decide on a color scheme. There is a lot of information out there about “color theory”, how color impacts emotion and what colors are best for marketing that is worth reading and considering. I like to visit the Color Schemer Gallery, where users post their latest color schemes, and scroll through until one strikes me as right for the design I’m working on.
If the project is a web site and the client also needs a logo, I always design the logo first and get that approved before moving forward with the site. For me, the whole look of the site starts with the logo. Then, moving on to the site design… the common wisdom in among design experts is that you should do a sketch, something I frequently skip, but really need to do more of. I will have already done a rough site map, and have in mind what kind of site navigation I’ll need. I create the look of the site in Illustrator, creating the main page, and maybe a sub-page or two if the look will be slightly different. I don’t think too much about how I’m going to acheive the look through the code because I think that restrains the design. I’ve never had a problem figuring out how to code it, and if it’s especially difficult to figure out, that just pushes me to improve my skills.
Once the client and I have agreed on what the site should look like, it’s time to start coding! Next time…
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Having not been formally trained in graphic design, I am always curious about other designers’ process . Some years ago, I was sure I was actually not a good designer because I had a hard time coming up with ideas and implementing them. Then I read an article by Cameron Moll entitled “Good designers copy, great designers steal.” The main point is that being a good designer often means “stealing” the inspiration from another piece of work. What a relief! I didn’t have to come up with all original ideas after all.
So, what is my process?
The first thing I do is make sure I have as much information about what the client is expecting as possible. I want to know what kind of image they are trying to project; what is the main message they want to get across? Next, unless I do truly have an original idea, I will go looking around the internet and maybe the library for inspiration. I check my del.icio.us bookmarks for sites that I have run across in the past and made a note of. For example, I was recently inspired by a book from the library about engraved letterheads from the first part of the last century, and redesigned my personal blog.
That’s the inspiration part of it. Over the next couple of posts I’ll flesh out the rest of the design process.
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Sociable 2.0 has just been released. I’ve tried other social bookmarking plugins, but I think this one is the best. It’s easy to install and has a good interface. For some reason it didn’t work automatically in my posts, and I had to put the line of code in manually, but I think this has more to do with the theme I’m using than the plugin itself. It supports all of the major (and most of the minor) sites. Click on one if the icons below to try it out!
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Have you found Giveaway of the Day yet? There are a few sites I visit every day and this is one of them. Each day they have one regular piece of software and one game offered free of charge. If you miss it, too bad. It only lasts 24 hours and then they post a new one. Most of the programs are system utilities and sound and image utilities, and you can read reviews of them before downloading if you like. Check it out.
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