There’s lots to love about this match: Aaron’s misspelling of the logo, Chris’ videos and sneak peek behind his process, the first I’ve ever seen players come together for a final product, and Chris’ play on the aforementioned misspelling during Layer 9.
For those in the crowd that aren’t pixel-pushers, Layer Tennis is a Friday afternoon competition put on by Coudal Partners that faces off two different designers each week. Players take turns creating something and then volleying it over to the other to build upon. A third party is also used to narrate the match as it progresses. It’s pretty much nerd-ertainment for a profession that is known for their ability to stroke each others’ egos. Needless to say, I have season tickets.
The next time I get a desire to re-paint my office, there’s a decent possibility I will paint any and all surfaces available with IdeaPaint. It’s billed as Paint that transforms any surface into a dry erase board. Think of the possibilities and the fumes.
Imagine, a room where your kids are encouraged to write on the walls. Or ceiling, doors and desk for that matter.
According to a 2002 study, the “appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography, font size, and color schemes,” is the number one factor we use to evaluate a website’s credibility.
Most people I deal with fall into two categories when it comes to design. There’s the “I’m a designer” group and the “Design is the afterthought” group; neither of which I handle all that well. Form and function have to coexist.
If you sell widgets, you know your widgets. I don’t profess to know your widgets better than you. Likewise, I know what I’m doing. My goal is not to make your website be the best website you have ever seen on your computer. My goal is to use design, content and functionality to make it the best possible experience for your clients as a greater whole.
My pitch has never been “my job is to make you look prettier,” nor has it ever been “my job is to give you more functionality.” My job is to make you look better. Fortunately for me, articles like the above and the research it references are slowly making it easier to prove to clients the need for well thought out plan of attack and hopefully refute the responses of “my wife likes brown and purple.”
The section starting at 1:20 with Katie Couric is enough to make me start combing ebay for one of these machines. Be prepared to see some sweet new videos of Junior on our Vimeo before long.
