skid : life | art | design

How Small is an Atom

sheyra — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:14:27 +0000

This video does a great job of putting it all into perspective.

Words of Wisdom

sheyra — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:58:08 +0000

“A great logo is not about what one likes or dislikes. It’s about what works.” – Brad Wieners

One of the toughest challenges I’ve encountered in brand development is convincing my client that their mark is not about them. What? Correct. The goal is to create a memorable piece that represents the client’s message, culture, image and all of the many parts that speak to the presence of their project, but at the end of the day, it should be a bonus that they like the piece, and a true success if it actually works for the brand.

Sick Sucks

sheyra — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 19:10:17 +0000

I’ve been working through a virus for almost a full week and I’ve learned some things:

1) Gurgling salt water gets rid of that crazy throat tickle that makes a person cough uncontrollably.
2) Puffs facial tissue is magic. I went through an entire box in three days without the slightest irritation to my skin.
3) Nyquil does absolutely nothing for congestion. It cools your throat down and helps you sleep.

Content is King

sheyra — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:47:16 +0000

Designers get frustrated when having to chase their tales, designing for phantom content. When clients are unclear on messaging and vacillating on what goes where, it makes the task of creating a successful interface that much more difficult. Current standards have it all backwards; we need to instead approach website projects with the first task of “what do you want to say?” and “to whom do you want to say it?” A co-worker shared this article with our team that speaks to this problem: http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1525

Eat it, don’t tweet it.

sheyra — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:20:58 +0000

brilliant.

Paypal App

sheyra — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:30:55 +0000

This past weekend, I went for a walk with a friend through the Oakland Cemetery, shooting photos and taking advantage of the ridiculous weather. We stopped in at the Welcome Center to pick up an info packet containing a map of the grounds to better navigate the cemetery. On our way out the door, I spotted the most amazing umbrellas, and who left their wallet in the car? Yours truly. (It wasn’t like I planned on any need to identify myself among the eternally rested.) Without skipping a beat, my friend jumped in to the rescue for a purchase.

With my phone in my back pocket, I asked if she used Paypal, and in fact she did. I was able to pay her back on the spot, thanks to the new Paypal App. It made for a seamless transaction, and my IOU was paid before we walked away from the cashier. Pretty nifty and practical to boot!

Luhse Tea

sheyra — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:01:35 +0000

Pretty neat website for those who like tea and tea accessories.

http://www.luhsetea.com/

Hero

sheyra — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:53:23 +0000

Amazing work. The video is simple and beautiful and the product is meticulous… drool. (via @cameraonmoll)

HTML & CSS: A 30-Day Adventure

sheyra — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:32:15 +0000

I’ve decided that it’s high time to brush up on some coding basics. I miss starting out, green in my career, being familiar with code, ui design and print production equally well. Though, after several years of practicing print and interactive design, I’m finding that the interactive side has been slowly taking over the playing field, while print is slowly becoming a missed loved one in my day-to-day. The print skills are priceless to possess (though ironically i’m still paying out of my ears for the lessons), however I’m feeling a pull to expand my design language, and get back into code.

It didn’t take long for me to find a solid set of tutorials to take on the task; there are tons available. Javascript, HTML… you name the language, there is a generous organization ready to teach it to you, for cheap or even free. I’m looking to start here. Jeffrey of Tuts+ has posted a series videos that walk the user through the very first steps of creating a new website, through tasks of slicing your own PSDs, etc. I’m on Day 7, and so far so good.

UX, UI and Apple Pie

sheyra — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:33:30 +0000

I find it both inspiring and confusing that there are so many ways to define specialties in the technology and interactive professional space. The challenge is understanding the reality that there exist just as many definitions as there are professionals who are willing to share them. Take User Experience (UX) for a spin (http://www.allaboutux.org/ux-definitions) At their core, these defined characteristics combine to paint a pretty comprehensive picture – one of moods, feelings, perceptions, and responses. It’s a sum of its parts. But wait – so is a Website User Interface (WUI) or (UI) … This is where it gets tricky; enter the food analogy.

Equate a UI to a freshly baked Apple Pie. It is built from a recipe of flour, apples, brown sugar, vanilla and a little bit of love. Think of these ingredients as an example set of some of the integral building blocks that make up a UI: design, content, and the programming language.

The UI is the warm Apple Pie. The UX is your taking in the aroma coming out of the oven as it bakes, the sticky fingers, the sweet and tangy flavors in your mouth as you eat it. UX is the package of all of those interactions and responses.

And for kicks, a poor UX would be the alternative result if you burned that pie… Or delivered that website with typos and broken code.

As a part of an ever-changing industry we need to be careful to use practice terms appropriately in context to minimize confusion. So often, acronyms are misused, interchanged and abused until their very root definition becomes diluted, especially for concepts as broad as User Experience. Try taking the “User” out of it, remembering it is the “Experience”, then simply placing it back in.