A web agency weblog

I had a dream, it’s not a joke, I really dreamed this two nighs ago:

” What if I asked all the people whose work I admire to tell us about what inspire them and how they get from idea to design?, better yet: What if they post those ideas at my blog?! “

Well, let’s try, worst thing that could happen is that nobody participates.

I think it is fair, for my readers and for the (hopefully) guests to come that I begin telling you how I do it. I don’t intend to compare myself with so many good designers, I just want to share.

First steps

I try to understand what I will create, what are the site owner expectations?, what are his audience interests and needs?, what are their products or services?

I have to find a theme for the web site, sometimes it is clear, for example: In creating a basketball team site the theme is just “basketball", but what happens when we are talking about a consultancy or some other business, let’s say something more abstract as human resources?. Well, in that case I have to go to some other sources.

Pictures and nature

Sometimes I just get a picture, a good one and try to get a theme from it, a color palette, abstract shapes, whatever can trigger imagination and be converted to something usable in Photoshop. I really like using my own pictures, wherever I am I try to carry my camera with me, experiment with it, taking pictures of everything, you don’t know when you will taking a really great picture.

I had read about using nature as an inspiration and you know what?, it really works! Go to the zoo and look at any animal or flower, everything in nature has a good combination of colors, nature is the perfect designer and you can get great ideas from it. If you don’t have the time look at the Discovery channel or go to the park.

Look all around you

Try looking at everything with a designer mind: Your car, other cars, a house, your clothes, your watch, anything! You can get an idea from every simple object, keep you mind alert for any detail.

Forget about it!

As Al Pacino told to Johnny Depp in Brasco: Forget about it. Sometimes you need to stop thinking about design, just go for a walk, watch TV, take a shower (this one has worked for me many times, not only with design but with business ideas, writing issues, etc), play some music, do anything !, but forget about design. Your mind will relax and your subsconscious could be a better designer than you.

Look great designers portfolios

Visit your favorite designer web site, read magazines, watch TV ads. Learn from the pros. Don’t copy, get inspiration, it is different.

Feeling lucky?

This may not sound too “professional” but sometimes it works: I just randomly play with different filters and effects in Photoshop or Illustrator until getting something that looks nice. Sounds familiar?, well, don’t forget to look, with a very critical mind, at what you get some hours or days later, if you still think your creation looks good then congratulations!, you were lucky!

I am not a great designer, I will try very hard to be one.

Now for the difficult part of my dream: I will invite the people who inspire my every day work to comment on this post and share with us how they create their magic. I will do my best to contact them and hope they can participate. They are, in no particular order:

• Jeffrey Zeldman
• Douglas Bowman
• Todd Dominey
• Dan Cederholm
• Dan Rubin
• Dave Shea
• Cameron Moll
• Ryan Sims
• Shaun Inman

I hope you can help me making this dream come true.