Rohdesign Weblog: Design

Here you'll find all posts file under the Design category.

December 7, 2009

Linnea's Baby Room Design

When Gail and I found out we were going to have our 2nd child, a baby girl, we knew we wanted to hire Aga Artka to design and guide us through the process of making it Linnea's room happen.

Hiring Aga has been an excellent decision in so many ways. Let me share them with you.

About Aga Artka

Aga Artka and her husband Brian have been friends a bit over 2 years. In that time I've watched Aga make a huge transition from full-time interior design employee to an interior design business owner.

It's been exciting to watch her take charge of her life while doing great design work for clients.

The Design Process

The process began with Gail and I sharing aesthetics we liked and were contemplating for the new room design with Aga, and a visit to the space she would be designing. Aga took our input, made measurements and created a plan for our review.

The plan included colors, furniture suggestions, and drawings Aga made of the room to give us a better idea how the space would be used and look.

I created a Basecamp project for the room design, which really made it easy for Gail, Aga and I to share ideas and links in messages, to create to do lists and manage the milestones of the project from start to finish. Basecamp was especially handy for accessing information (e.g. paint color, product URLs) when we needed it most.

We took Aga's plan and suggestions for paint color and other details and began to build the room out. Initially we thought about re-using Nathan's crib but in the end decided to upgrade to a new crib and changing table/dresser with better functionality and a look that better suited the room design.

Linnea's name graces the wall, from Chatty Walls, a small company who creates custom vinyl names. They did a great job creating the lettering, which was pretty easy to apply on the wall.

Our family also added a personal touch with hand-painted art to match Linnea's bedding and window treatments. I drew out the shapes in pencil, then Nathan, Gail and I worked together to paint 3 canvases that hang above the changing table.

Why Hire a Pro?

Having Aga there to set direction and take our random thoughts and make them into a cohesive direction was wonderful to experience.

Rather than slapping a coat of paint on the walls and buying some pieces and parts, we felt there was a direction to refer to as we went along.

Also, being able to ask questions as we built the room out was invaluable. On several shopping trips for chairs or cribs, I took photos of items with my iPhone and uploaded them to Basecamp for her review and commentary.

An important detail to note: when hiring a design specialist like Aga, having her available for questions and direction through the project is in my view, nearly as valuable as the initial design thinking and work is.

Experiencing this process was especially good for me as a design consultant. I was able see the design process from the client's perspective and understand how to better serve my own clients on design projects.

The FInished Room

This weekend Aga and Brian stopped over to see and take photos of the finished room. We're incredibly pleased with how the room turned out. It's comfortable and flows well for such a small space.

We love the new space and are confident Linnea will love it as she grows up.

Read the details of the process from Aga's perspective on her blog. She shares more on the technical specs and talks about the before and after aspects of the project.

Go Hire Aga!

If you have a space that needs design and some direction from a professional, contact Aga Artka. She listens and knows her stuff. She's amazing!

Find her at @agartka on Twitter, on LinkedIn, on Facebook or on her company blog or website contact form.

Thanks Aga!

Photos: Brian Artka

Related Links
37signals Product Blog: Interior designer and client use Basecamp to collaborate on design of new baby room

Permalink | | Kids | add to del.icio.us

August 29, 2009

John Topley's Weblog Redesign

Way back in June 2007, while working at MakaluMedia, a client I'd worked on a logo design for, John Topley contacted me about redesigning his personal weblog.

John has been blogging since 2003 (as long as I have) and was ready for a custom design for the blog software he was in the process of creating with Ruby on Rails.

From John's Putting My Blog On Rails post about the redesign:

"Once I'd taken the decision that I was going to create a new blog from scratch, I emailed Mike Rohde at the end of May 2007 and asked if he would be interested in coming up with a new graphic design for the site.
"I chose Mike because way back in 2005 I read Ian Landsman’s post about working with Mike to create a business logo and I'd been impressed with the end result. I'd also worked with Mike before on a as-yet unrealised design project, so I knew that we were a good fit."

After talking with John about his goals and requirements, I began sketching to get direction, then with John's approval, moved on to mockups in Fireworks. Once the mockups were approved, I worked with Corrie Haffly to prepare the Fireworks files for her to cut-up the design in XHTML and CSS.

You can read about the fully detailed process from John's perspective on his latest blog post Putting My Blog On Rails.

Thanks John for choosing to work with me. The blog looks great and I hope you get many, many years of good use from the design!

Permalink | | Web Design | add to del.icio.us

August 5, 2009

Associations Now Magazine: Sketchnote Illustrations

I was honored and excited to be interviewed by Mark Athitakis for his Associations Now Magazine article, Are You A Visual Thinker?

Imagine my surprise and excitement at being hired to illustrate the Associations Now Magazine cover and feature spread for the very same article in my signature sketchnote style.

What a great opportunity to share visual thinking in a fun way, to about 20,000 leaders of associations.

The Hand-Drawn Idea

As Mark was writing the article, Associations Now Magazine's art director, Beth Lower, saw and liked my sketchnote of the iPhone 3GS Unboxing. Each issue of the magazine has a different design in context to the feature story, which led Beth to a completely hand-drawn, sketchnote style cover to communicate the visual thinking feature story.

Beth and I chatted about the concept on the phone, and both of us resonated with the concept of a visual thinking collage, comprised of the tools and notes about them in a hand-drawn sketchnote style.

Pencil Sketches

Associations Now Illustration: Concept Sketch

For the next step, I sketched out a rough cover design idea using pencil in my Moleskine squared notebook, and scanned it for Beth to review for direction.

Beth liked the the look and feel of my pencil sketch and approved the illustration phase of the project. I prepared for the final sketchnote illustration, though I knew some elements would likely need to be sorted out on the fly.

Inked Illustration

Because I wanted to create the art at 100% actual size, I found a sheet of heavy paper to layout the structure of the cover on. I drew out the full size of the cover and began laying out elements I knew had to be in place — Associations Now logo, headlines and table of contents elements in pencil, etc.

Once the main elements were organized, I began inking in the elements, starting with the logo in the top left of the page and working my way down to the main headline on the left side of the page.

I encountered issues with gel ink reacting less than smoothly with my paper and pencil graphite lines, but thankfully, I was able to work through those issues and ink out the cover for production.

Photoshop Production

Once I was pleased with the final illustration, I scanned it into my MacBook and began preparing the final art for production in Photoshop.

I knew Beth wanted to capture the sketchnote style, which meant producing a creamy background color behind the rich black illustration work.

Cream can be a very tough color to capture in the printing process, using standard colors of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYK). It's so easy to lean too much toward yellow or red and ruin the creamy feeling you're hoping for.

I found what I felt would reproduce in CMYK as a good cream combo, then imported the final scans in, tweaking the contrast, moving elements around in subtle ways and perfecting the final artwork.

Once the art was finalized, I shipped source artwork off for production.

Inside Feature Illustration

Next up was the two-page feature spread illustration which had to continue a consistent image and feel from the cover, to connect them visually.

Beth provided a PDF of the page spread with a headline in place. I used this to trace and ink in the headline and figure out where drawn elements needed to be placed.

I used some elements from the cover for consistency, then began sketching out other elements to fill the remaining space in a balanced way. This is where I built art elements on the fly, allowing the concept of the article and elements already created for the cover to spark new ideas.

When the inner spread was completed to my satisfaction, I created a Photoshop file similar to the cover, with cream background and the elements in their exact locations on the page.

Beth had one more element for me to sketchnote — a quote by Ryan Coleman of VizThink. I sketched out a pencil grid, drew the lettering, scanned and sent the art out to wrap up my illustrations.

Printed Magazines: Wow!

A few weeks later, a package arrived at my door with a package of final, printed copies of the Associations Now August magazine, featuring my illustrations on the cover and feature spread. I'm very pleased with the cream color and how well the illustrations look on the page.

The Associations Now team have been very pleased with the final results, and I'm excited to hear how their subscribers react to this unusual issue of the magazine.

Thank you Mark Athitakis, Beth Lower and Lisa Junker from Associations Now for your faith in me to produce the cover and feature spread illustrations. I'm very honored to have been chosen.

If you are interested in getting a copy of the August issue, let me know. Lisa, the magazine's editor has told me she has limited copies of the magazine available for those who ask nicely. :-)

Related Links:
Associations Now Magazine Illustrations Set
Are You A Visual Thinker?
Download The Associations Now Visual Thinking Feature (2.5MB PDF)

Permalink | | Sketchnotes | add to del.icio.us

July 8, 2009

Why Visual Notes Work

Here's an interesting video from TED of Tom Wujec, an information designer and Fellow at Autodesk. I thought it would be an insightful video to share here, as I've been focused on sketchnotes and visual note-taking the last few months.

In his talk, Tom explains the 3 ways our brains make meaning, help us understand words, images, feelings and connections. He also talks about why visual notes resonate so well with humans (sketchnotes for instance) and he shares the techniques Autodesk uses to plan strategically with visual thinking.

June 13, 2009

Maruman Mnemosyne Notebook Video Review

About a month ago I picked up a set of two Maruman Mnemosyne A4 gridded notebooks, curious to see how they worked for wireframing websites.

In the past month I've been impressed with how well the Mnemosyne notebook has performed, so I shot a brief review video of the notebook to share with you:

Maruman Mnemosyne A4 Notebook Video Review from Mike Rohde on Vimeo.

I love the smooth, calendared paper in the book, because it holds pencil so well. Even soft pencil sketches seem to hold in place without smearing like other books that have paper with texture or tooth on them.

The size is also nice, as A4 (210 × 297 mm) provides a little more vertical height than US Letter sized 8.5" x 11" sheets of paper. This gives that little extra on the top and bottom, which works well for site design, which tends to be more vertical.

Lastly, the light gray grid is strong enough to be seen but light enough not to get in the way. The grid is also relatively easy to knock out in Photoshop, convenient for making your wireframe sketches cleaner for presentations.

Maruman Mnemosyne notebooks can be bought at JetPens.com in a set of 2 for $32. They're not the cheapest notebook, but the balance of paper quality, size and grid tonality make them worth the extra cost to me.

Permalink | | Web Design | add to del.icio.us

March 1, 2009

SXSW Interactive '09 Tote Bag Design

In October 2008, I was honored when Shawn O'Keefe and the SXSW team asked me to design the 2009 SXSW Interactive canvas tote bag.

I know from my last year at SXSW Interactive that 8,000+ tote bags are given out to SXSW Interactive registrants — so I was driven to come up with an amazing design.

In this post I'll explain the tote bag design process, including some of the challenges we faced through that process and how we came up with a winning solution.

Initial Specs and Feedback

In the initial briefing for the tote bag design project, Shawn had a few specs for the bag and a sense of the general direction the team at SXSW wanted to go in for the design. For specs, I had a 10" x 10" space and up to 7 colors to work with.

The SXSW team also mentioned that the past two bag designs had been hand-drawn in a cartoon style, with mostly darker colors. For the 2009 design they wanted something brighter and less cartoon oriented.

For creative direction, the SXSW team wanted to represent the most common tags generated by the Interactive Panel Picker in a creative way. Shawn shared a Wordle word cloud type treatment as a reference, using some of the tags they were seeing:

Wordle Word Cloud

Sketches

I wanted to explore some alternate ideas for Shawn to see, so I began by sketching pencil concepts in my trusty Miquelrius gridded sketchbook. I find this is a critical step to working out ideas. It's clear enough that clients can see direction, but open enough that there is still room for adjustment and iteration.

Concept Sketch v1
In the first round, I created a network tree, with SXSW 09 text at the center of the tree with panel picker tags branching out from the center to fill the space:

The SXSW team felt the very structured network idea was a bit too rigid. They wanted the design to have a more random, organic feel than a network structure could offer.

Concept Sketch v2
In my second sketch, you'll see I've returned to the general idea of a tag cloud, but making better use of the square shape I had to work with.

The upper sketch uses actual tags to form an arrow pointing to the SXSW tag in the lower right corner. The lower sketch features four arrows created with tags, point to the 4 corners that spell out S X S W:

We liked the second round of sketches, especially the idea with the single arrow pointing to SXSW in the lower right-hand corner of the design.

Black & White Concepts

At this point I moved to Adobe Illustrator on the Mac to build the tag cloud in black & white with real fonts, to see how actual tags would look in place:

This direction was good — the sizing of the letters, positioning and overall shape felt right. In fact, when I showed this to my friend Brian Artka, it reminded him of the state of Texas. I hadn't intended this, but I really liked the serendipity of it.

Shawn and the SXSW team wanted to see the arrow tags and SXSW pointing to the lower left, so I created a second version, emphasizing the Texas shape a bit more:

Notice the circle-star and AUSTIN text in the middle of the type treatment? I added it once the shape was tweaked to look more like Texas.

Color Concepts

With the structure worked out in black & white, it was time to explore color. I started adding colors to the tags, balancing their placement across the cloud. Then mocked up the color concept on a blank canvas tote bag photo for review:

The brightness of the design was great, but it needed something to separate the tag cloud from the canvas color. I used the type to create a halftone-edged shape in Photoshop, which formed the white shape under the typography in v2:

Facing & Solving Challenges

This design was shaping up! The tag cloud was working well, color was bright and cheerful and the overall feel was mostly positive. But there was a problem — the design was a bit too crisp and mechanical.

The SXSW team wanted a design that was more organic, and even though initially they didn't want another hand-drawn bag design, we started talking about using the Sketchnote style they really loved, mixed in with regular typography.

I replaced some of the tags in the cloud with hand-drawn sketchnote lettering:

It still wasn't noticeable enough, since the crisp typography dominated the design. The hand-drawn words were getting lost in the mix, and looked more like bad reproduction than intentionally hand-drawn typography.

Next I traced the bottom half of the tags in a sketchnote style, scanned and auto-traced the letters using Vector Magic (a wonderful service BTW).

I wanted show a transformation from sketchnote letters to real type — but it still felt wrong. It was too loose for actual type and too mechanical for hand-drawn type:

I was stumped, trying too hard to sneak organic hand-drawn letters into the type.

The Solution: Raw Sketchnote Typography

After a good discussion with Shawn about direction, we decided to shift radically and completely to a sketchnote style for the tag cloud typography. I changed my production method, using actual scans of the sketchnote type, rather than tracing the scans into vectors. The raw scans were much more human and organic:

Yes! This was what we were aiming for! Shawn and the SXSW team liked the new sketchnote direction and I did as well. I had my personality baked in and felt unified and organic — something we didn't feel with the clean typographic approach.

With the design approved, I finalized my Photoshop artwork for printing, and sent it to the SXSW team for production. That was November 17th, because printing 8,000+ canvas tote bags with 7 colors needed lots of lead time. :-)

Final Tote Bags

It was mid-February when Shawn sent word that the bags were back from production. He grabbed a camera and took a few shots of the bag design, so I could see how they turned out and for this blog post:

After having a few months away from the design, the human touch in the sketchnote lettering really feels right for this bag design. I'm very happy with how it's turned out.

I'm hoping attendees to SXSW Interactive for 2009 will enjoy the bags and the design. I'm honored knowing that these bags will be used for years to come, reminding SXSW attendees of their great experience in Austin.

Thank You

Thanks go to Shawn O'Keefe, Hugh Forrest and the entire SXSW team for choosing me to design the tote bag for 2009. Thanks for staying with me through the tough times in the process as we met the challenge together. It's been great fun.

I'm excited to see thousands of tote bags I've designed wandering around Austin! :-)

Permalink | | Design | add to del.icio.us

February 4, 2009

Winterblast 2009 T-Shirt Design

I've just received a box of freshly printed t-shirts I've designed for Winterblast, our church youth group's yearly winter retreat. As with the 2008 t-shirt design, I'd like to share a little more about the design process along with imagery of the final design.

Maintaining the Winterblast Identity

Since 2007, I've been working with a few constant specifications when designing the Winterblast t-shirt — a solid color, long sleeve shirt, white ink

on the front only and a stylized wintertime animal in the artwork.

For the 2007 design I created a snow monster with two broom ball sticks on a navy shirt to start this series. In 2008, I chose a polar bear with a winter hat and sunglasses on a forest green shirt.

For 2009 I selected a penguin on a snowboard as the cold-weather animal to stylize for the shirt design.

Sketching the Snowboarding Penguin

With that general direction in mind, and the word FOLLOW as the 2009 theme, I began sketching ideas of penguins on snowboards, flipping over the typography:

Tom the youth pastor wanted simplify the FOLLOW type so the double LLs wouldn't tuck together, and we both agreed that having the FOLLOW type tilting downhill (rather than uphill) with the penguin grabbing air over the type worked best.

Color Mockup

Next, I prepared a color mockup for Tom in Adobe Illustrator, to show how the design would appear on an indigo blue long-sleeved t-shirt:

The font used for FOLLOW was based on Oxide Solid Light, with the strokes of the letters bolded manually, a customized W to match the style I wanted to see, and a custom explanation point added to round out the typographic details.

Tom liked this look and shirt color, so I sent shirt sizes and final artwork to MJM Screen Print & Embroidery Studio in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin for final printing.

Finished Design

The final, finished design turned out great, and I especially love the indigo blue shirt color, which fits in well compared to the shirts from 2007 and 2008:

Once again, the shirts turned out well, thanks to the great work by MJM on printing. I'm looking forward to handing these out to our students at Winterblast this weekend.

Permalink | | T-Shirts | add to del.icio.us

January 17, 2009

8 Questions on Art Direction, Design & Sketchnotes

Several months ago, my friend Larry Wright asked if I'd be up for a detailed interview about design, art direction and sketchnotes. I loved the idea and agreed, responding to Larry's questions via email.

We met at the first SEED conference in 2007 and we've kept in contact since. As a developer, Larry is fascinated by design and after sitting next to me as I produced the SEED 1 sketchnotes, was curious about the sketchote process.

Here are some excerpts from the interview, first, my thoughts on art direction:

"In my view, an 'Art Director' is a designer with a 50,000 foot meta view of design projects they work on. They are involved all the way from listening to the client and stakeholders on a project, through the conception of an idea to the design, development and production the idea."

On my design process:

"Once I understand the challenge, I read my notes, and synthesize the goals for sketching. I use pencil sketches to help work out ideas that can solve the challenges I’m facing. These sketches are presented to clients with what I call “rationale notes” explaining the whys of my design concepts."

And on my sketchnotes:

"I find taking notes and sketching really reinforce what I’m capturing in my head as a speaker talks. Sketchnotes are not meant to be word-for-word stenographer notes, but interpretive. I capture what I feel is important, which makes sketchnotes personal."

The full interview: Mike Rohde - Designer, Blogger, Sketchnote Artist is available at Larry's site. Do check it out and consider following Larry Wright on Twitter!

Thanks Larry!

Permalink | | Design | add to del.icio.us

December 19, 2008

Bullfrog Touch Logo & iPhone UI Design

In May 2008, Jon Trainer of Outer Level software came to me with a then confidential project — designing an icon and a UI screen for a top secret iPhone native application called Bullfrog Touch.

I've worked with Jon for years — designing the Outer Level logo, and creating an icon for LicenseKeeper, so I was happy to help translate his popular Mac OS X app Bullfrog to the iPhone.

Bullfrog Touch Logo Design

The first challenge was creating a new logo for the Bullfrog Touch application. I needed to incorporate the existing Mac OS X Bullfrog cartoon icon, created by Jordan Langille and adapt it to the iPhone. With the bullfrog icon on the left I chose Arial Rounded Bold for the Bullfrog font, applying a bright green glow in Fireworks.

In the open space to the top-right of the Bullfrog text, TOUCH fit perfectly. I stayed with Arial Rounded Bold in all caps, adding jumbled alignments to visually suggest a bullfrog's jumping action and for a bit of contrast.

Bullfrog Touch Score Screen UI Design

Next challenge Jon needed help with visually was the scores screen. Jon had a rough idea of what he wanted, provided in a mockup screenshot I could use for reference:

Using Jon's sample as a rough starting point, I began researching screens on my iPod touch and online, to see how Apple and other developers had dealt with UI elements, fonts, colors, sizing and so on. After the research phase, I built a mockup in Fireworks, right on top of Jon's original sample screenshot:

My goal was to make the scores screen clear, easy to read and use, while maintaining look and feel of the new logo into the UI design.

Jon was happy with the results, using the mockup and exported files as a reference for the final application UI. The colors and button styles and some of the elements were changed, resized and tweaked, but are still pretty close to my mockup.

Here's my original mockup next to the the final Bullfrog Touch scores screen:

Conclusion? That was fun, I want to do it again!

It was an interesting and enjoyable challenge working with Jon on this iPhone UI design project. I look forward to helping others on future iPhone app projects to keep exploring this fascinating new UI design space.

Bullfrog Touch was chosen as one of the best iPhone/iPod touch games to give as a gift, in the TidBITS Gift Guide 2008

Jon Trainer has a post about the design process on his company blog.

Thanks Jon!

Permalink | | Icons | add to del.icio.us

November 4, 2008

2009 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar is Available!

The 2009 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar is now up for sale! You can buy it for $19.99 plus shipping at CafePress, with US and international shipping available.

Back in 2006 I started drawing sketchtoon style coffee illustrations in my Moleskine sketchbook in ink, scanning each illustration into the Mac for colorization in Photoshop.

In 2007, over 100 of the 2008 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendars were sold, so it seems there's a demand out there for coffee calendars.

Each month's illustration features a different coffee drink, with several unique drinks from various areas of the world, like the Flat White from down under and the Greek Frappe. Check out the cover and 12 illustrations at Flickr. I'm very pleased with how the calendar turned out.

Sketchtoon Photos
I've posted several photos of the original ink sketchtoons to Flickr:

It's a great gift idea for coffee lovers who would enjoy a unique coffee calendar.

Buy It Today: 2009 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar: $19.99 + shipping.

Related Links
Check out Ricardo Levins Morales' very cool 2009 Coffee Calendar too!

Permalink | | Sketchtoons | add to del.icio.us

April 23, 2008

The New Gig: Art Director at Northwoods Software

Last November, I mentioned in detail Apple contacting me about a job opportunity with the iPhone/OS X design team. After taking time to ponder and reflect on the opportunity, I felt it wasn't the right move for myself or my family.

I loved living and working in Milwaukee, helping independent software developers with branding and design challenges at MakaluMedia.

These were the major reasons I decided to decline the Apple opportunity.

Fast forward to spring 2008.

Following several discussions with leadership team and design/development staff at Northwoods Software, I've been offered an art director position, which I have accepted. I start my new job in mid-May.

After 10 great years at MakaluMedia, I'm taking the next step.

A Tough Decision
This change was a very tough decision. I love the design work I do, the clients I help and the many colleagues I've had the pleasure to collaborate with. I've spent several years building a reputation for doing good design work, solving problems for my clients and being a designer who listens and is easy to work with.

There is nothing wrong with MakaluMedia. I've loved my time at MakaluMedia.

This change in direction is about new opportunities and challenges on multiple levels. This is the next step in my growth as a person, a designer and art director.

10 Years at MakaluMedia: Priceless
Working for MakaluMedia since 1998 has been a wonderful experience. Matt Henderson, the owner of MakaluMedia and I have been through quite a bit together.

I was Matt's first employee, leaving a position with Hare Strigenz, a Milwaukee print design firm. I'd developed a passion for the web and wanted to learn the new medium by diving in head first.

I learned HTML from books and building sites in BBEdit. in 2003 I shifted from tabled design to web standards, thanks to Designing with Web Standards.

I was the first MakaluMedia employee to work fully remotely. This was way back in 1998 when it was still a little quirky and unusual. I produced my design work on a Powerbook Wallstreet, with a 19" Sony CRT on a folding table in my apartment.

I experienced a shift from larger design projects with the European Space Agency, to building a network of small, independent clients over several years. The first year was tough, but a long-term, steady approach to doing good work and making clients happy has paid off in many referrals, a backlog of work and profitability.

By working remotely and having to build my own network of clients and partners, I've effectively run a small design business. I've enjoyed the entire process: finding clients, winning projects, solving design challenges, selecting and managing partners, producing the solutions, invoicing the work and promoting the work.

These past 10 years have shaped who I am, formalized my iterative design process, provided a better understanding of business, built my knowledge of helping clients, improved my customer service and more. It's been a priceless experience.

Northwoods Opportunities & Challenges
Becoming an art director at Northwoods Software is a step in my process of growth as a designer and a person. I'll be working on larger projects, exercising research, analysis, problem solving and visual thinking skills in new and different ways. I'm looking forward to bringing what I've learned to new projects and users.

I'm very excited about working within a creative group again. Working alone has developed my focus, but I've missed being in an office with a small group of creative people. Over the years I've built a network of design colleagues online, but IM, Twitter and voice chats are just no substitute for having colleagues close at hand.

Sharing with my team will be satisfying part of the position. I'm looking forward to offering up my 20+ years of experience in design practice with colleagues. I hope that all of the joy and pain gained from many years of working on projects with clients will benefit my colleagues at Northwoods.

The company is focusing on new creative areas of expertise, and I'm extremely excited to be part of this. I'm hoping my skills and experiences in building a small design business from scratch will be helpful in this regard.

Finally, the company attracted me with its unique working environment, including a private office with shower and toilet, ping pong tables, popcorn on Thursdays, workout and nap rooms and space outside for frisbee. Northwoods' family first approach and flexibility made a positive impact on me, as I'm coming from a pretty family-friendly and flexible work at home environment.

All in all, I am very excited about this new Northwoods opportunity.

Thanks!
I'm very thankful to Matt Henderson for the opportunity to be a part of MakaluMedia these past 10 years. It's been a great ride, I've learned quite a bit, and I know the team will continue to produce great stuff.

I'm also grateful to the team at Northwoods, for making me a part of their team at this exciting time in the life of the company. I'm looking forward to being a contributor to Northwoods' success and growth.

Northwoods Movies & Photos
Tracy Apps, a friend of mine and my future Northwoods colleague, has grabbed several movie clips and photos of the Northwoods offices on Flickr. I thought would be fun to post several of them here for a little context. :-)

My New Office at Northwoods

Yep, that's my own private office with a window, bathroom, shower and vanity. Northwoods has retrofitted an old hospital space for their offices, so every employee gets an office just like this. Pretty slick.

The Creative Wing Tour

Tracy takes the camera down the hall from my office, and shows the central area where the ping pong tables and other amenities are located.

Brian Artka Scootering in the Creative Wing

A few weeks ago, Northwoods picked up scooters for the team, and of course my friend Brian Artka had to show off his scootering skillz!

Tracy's Extreme On-Board Scootering

Here we have Tracy capturing her thrill-a-minute extreme scooter ride!

Ping Pong Tables

And here are several Northwoods team members playing ping pong.

Permalink | | Design | add to del.icio.us

April 3, 2008

Lola & Foxy Pet Tag Design

Yesterday I received four very cool sample pet tags from MakaluMedia client Pam Trainer at Lola & Foxy. I was so impressed with how these tags turned out, I had to write a little something here to tell the story of their creation.

Back in early 2007, Pam Trainer, the sister of Jon Trainer at Outer Level (another client) came to me to help her tune up, simplify and redraw the logo for Lola & Foxy, her startup business offering pet collars, leads and tags online.

The logo refresh project went very well, so when Pam needed several pet tags designed in a pinch for a trade show late in the year, she called me again for help.

I happened to be booked when she contacted me, but I'd been working in an art direction role with Milwaukee designer Jason Behlke on some other production and design projects, and thought this would be a perfect job to collaborate on with him.

Research & Analyis
I talked with Pam about technical specs, wording, look and feel ideas and overall goals of the project. Then I took all of the raw information and analyzed it, producing a design brief with Pam's specs and my own thoughts on style, fonts, colors and other directions so that Jason could start working on the design.

Jason produced black & white concepts in Illustrator, which I reviewed and presented to Pam with detailed thoughts, gathered her feedback and we continued until we had final 4 winning designs that were properly prepped for the tag production house.

Pam was able to get samples in time for her trade show, and the designs went over quite well. She's now selling all four of the tag designs on the Lola & Foxy site and reports they're very popular.

Project Observations
While this was a small, quick project, I think it provides valuable insight on how the process works, and how everyone benefits. Pam had a great experience and now has a popular set of tags to sell. Jason had a chance to do some very cool design work on something he'd never done before. I had the pleasure of helping Pam make an idea reality, while acting as a guide and mentor to Jason through the process.

I smile, knowing we've all benefited working on this fun project. Even better, these pet tags are benefitting pet owners who can enjoy the fruits of our collaboration.

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February 7, 2008

Attending SXSW Interactive 2008!

For the past few years, I've been very intentional about attending thought-provoking conferences and events, to learn, grow and meet new people.

In 2007, I attended BarCampMadison, UX Intensive, SOBCon07, BarCampMilwaukee2 the SEED Conference and excellent monthly Web414 meetings through the year.

For several years I've heard great things about SXSW (South by Southwest) Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. Many of the people I admire attend yearly, I've enjoyed podcasts from the event, but it's never worked out for me to attend.

That will change in 2008. On March 7th, I'll be heading down to Austin, with fellow Web414 members Ashe Dryden and David Overbeck. We're all excited to see first-hand, just what all the SXSW buzz is about.

Thanks MakaluMedia!
I've been given the opportunity to attend SXSW as art director and designer from MakaluMedia. I'm very thankful for this opportunity, and I plan to make the most of my time in Austin. I'll attend multiple sessions, take notes and capture sketchnotes similar to the ones I did at the SEED Conference and UX Intensive.

Advise the Newbie
Since this is my first time to SXSW Interactive, I welcome tips and ideas from seasoned veterans. I'm also open to Austin tips and suggestions from any Austin dwellers out there who would like to share. Just leave a comment below. :-)

Contact Me SXSW-Goers
I also want to meet old friends and new people while I'm at at SXSW. If you're attending SXSW Interactive 2008 and would like to meet for a coffee in Austin, drop me a line with the subject SXSW. I'd love to connect before I head down to Austin.

Resources
As I prepare for SXSW Interactive, I've compiled a selection of resources to share with other SXSW attendees, and those interested in the event:

SXSW Interactive 2008 — The official site.
SXSW Interactive 2008: Panels (Time) — SXSW Panels, time schedule.
SXSW Interactive 2008: Panels (Day) — SXSW Panels, by day.
SXSW Interactive 2008: Panels (Category) — SXSW Panels, by category.
SXSW Registrant's Guide — Registrant's guide.
SXSW Registrant's Mobile Guide — Mobile registrant's guide.
SXSW '08 Insider's Guide — Information and forums on Ning.com.
SXSW Baby — Un-official Weblog and forums for SXSW.
Ze Frank Explains SXSW Interactive In Under a Minute — Classic Ze Frank humor!
SXSW Core Conversations — Directory for informal conversations.
SXSW Past, Present, and Future — Great podcast interview with Hugh Forrest, Director of Events for SXSW Interactive on the history, culture and future of the event.
SXSW Geeks Love Bowling — Bowling with SXSWers, Sunday, March 9th.
Airbag: Hampton — Greg Storey's Guide to SXSW Newbies.
John Phillips — Beginner's Guide to SXSW.

Have a resource to share? Email me and let me know!

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February 5, 2008

Winterblast 2008 T-Shirt Design

For the past several years, I've had the great opportunity to design t-shirt graphics for Winterblast, our church youth group's annual winter retreat.

For 2007, I created a snow monster for the shirt design, and loved how the white ink on navy blue long-sleeve t-shirts turned out. For 2008, I chose a stylized white polar bear design, on forest green long-sleeve t-shirts.

Designing the Polar Bear
To create the stylized polar bear illustration, I used image searches to locate a few reference photos, to help me establish correct proportions and shapes in my memory. Using this reference, I created a front-view polar bear in Adobe Illustrator. No sketches were necessary, as the bear idea had formed in my head by this point.

After several design iterations, I decided to add a pair of black 1960s sunglasses, a winter cap, and enclosed the polar bear within a circular shape.

I explored various type treatments for Winterblast '08, settling on a combo of Helvetica Bold and Medium. The rounded rectangle shape around the type suggests a highway sign — as our group typically has a long road trip North to the retreat.

Printing the Shirts
Once the art was complete, I took my final files to MJM Screen Print & Embroidery Studio in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. MJM provided great screen printing and superb service, turning these Winterblast t-shirts around quickly, and with great quality.

Here are a few photos of the finished t-shirts:

I think these shirts turned out very well. I can't wait to pass these bad boys out to the 50 students and leaders going to Winterblast 2008!

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January 24, 2008

Helvetica: Full Film on Google Video (Removed)

I've just learned that the full 1:21:44 documentary Film Helvetica (which I recommended in a previous post) ~~is currently~~ was available to watch on Google Video.

I had a look at the comments, and saw someone listed as "gary hustwit" who may (or may not) be the filmmaker:

"yes the filmmakers should be making money... this is an illegal upload and will be deleted soon. if you'd like to support the film, go to http://www.helveticafilm.com"

This video may indeed be an illegal upload, and might disappear soon. I'd momentarily embedded the video here, but decided to remove it, as it isn't clear if the film was legally posted. At least it can't be downloaded.

My advice is to rent or buy the film, see it as intended and support the filmmaker, Gary Hustwit, for his hard work. Helvetica is available at Netflix or Amazon and directly from the Helvetica Shop.

(Thanks to Russell Beattie for the tip.)

UPDATE 2008-01-26: This video has now been removed from Google Video.

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January 21, 2008

Helvetica: The Movie

The film begins with a close up of a typographer's hands, selecting metal type from a case, building a line of type for an old-school proof press.

I'm talking about Gary Hustwit's film Helvetica, a gorgeous documentary about a typeface's birth and cultural impact.

Helvetica features beautiful filmwork, an interesting storyline, fascinating interviews and a killer soundtrack. It's a joy to watch Hustwit blend visuals, sound and voice into a compelling story of one typeface's impact on our culture.

I love the wide selection of interviewees Hustwit chooses — old-school and young gun designers, typographers and design critics, those who love Helvetica and those who abhor it. The film's broad spectrum of voices provides a full picture of Helvetica, the neutral Swiss typeface that somehow draws out extreme opinions.

See this film! See it even if you aren't a designer, but especially if you're a designer.

You'll gain insight into the making of a typeface. You'll gain a deeper understanding of how fundamentally typography shapes design, advertising, street signs, packaging: even common items like government forms. You'll be surprised.

For a taste of the film, here's an 8 minute selection of clips for your viewing pleasure:

Helvetica is available at Netflix or Amazon and directly from the Helvetica Shop.

Check it out! You won't be disappointed. :-)

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December 15, 2007

2008 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar Update

3 weeks ago today, I released the 2008 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar, and since then, I've been pleased with the results. Here are some highlights:

54 calendars have been purchased since Saturday, November 24th.
The quality of the printing from Cafe Press is quite good (see the photos).
I've had positive feedback about the calendar grid for actual use as a calendar, as the days in the grid aren't covered with images or text.
The Sketchtoon Calendar Set on Flickr has been viewed 2,500 times.
Both the Vertical and Square iPhone/iPod/Palm wallpapers have been popular.
The original Sketchtoon Calendar post from my blog has the number 1 position in natural search results on Google.

It's been an interesting and fun experiment. I'm learning new things, and have been meeting many interesting people through the project.

The calendar still has a brief window of opportunity for sales, probably through mid January or so. I'll be interested in seeing where sales go from here — hopefully I can earn a few more sales before 2008 arrives.

Buy the Sketchtoon Calendar: 2008 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar: $19.99 + shipping.

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November 30, 2007

Square Sketchtoon Coffee Wallpapers for Palm & iPod

It seems the vertical 320 x 480px coffee sketchtoon wallpapers for the iPhone, iPod touch and Palm OS devices with vertical screens are quite popular!

Since square-formatted screens on Palms and iPods can also make use of wallpapers, I've created a new set of twelve 320 x 320px wallpapers.

Each coffee wallpaper is a 320 x 320px color JPG file, available as a free download from Flickr, for personal use.

Coffee Calendar
If you like the wallpapers, please consider picking up a Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar for yourself or a coffee-loving friend as a unique gift as a way to say thanks.

Donations
Not a calendar person? consider a PayPal donation, and I will be happy to send you a complete set of 12 JPGs as a ZIP file:

Thanks, and have a great weekend! :-)

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November 26, 2007

Sketchtoon Coffee iPhone/iPod touch Wallpapers

Now that the Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar is complete and available for sale, I've been considering ways to make other interesting items with these illustrations.

Today I was inspired by Les & Ian's comments on my last post to create a custom 12-pack of sketchtoon coffee wallpapers, designed especially for iPhone and iPod touch screens.

Each sketchtoon coffee wallpaper is a 320x480px color JPG file, available at Flickr as a free download for personal use on your iPhone or iPod touch.

If you like the wallpaper art, consider picking up a Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar for yourself or a coffee-loving friend as a unique gift.

Update 2007-11-28: I've uploaded Flickr, having adjusted the images to fit properly within the clear window on the iPhone/iPod touch login screen. If you have an older version, check out the updated images and get a new version.

Palm and Windows Mobile Users: Please drop me a line and let me know if you're interested in wallpapers for your devices. I'm currently gauging whether I want to produce these in a few more sizes, like 320x320 and 240x320. Let me know what sizes you might prefer.

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November 24, 2007

2008 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar is Available!

2008 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar now complete and up for sale! You can buy it for $19.99 plus shipping at CafePress, with US and international shipping available.

Last year, I started drawing sketchtoon style coffee illustrations in my Moleskine sketchbook in ink, scanning each illustration into the Mac for colorization in Photoshop.

Sketchtoon Photos
I've posted several photos of the original ink sketchtoons to Flickr:

It's a great gift idea for coffee lovers who would enjoy a unique coffee calendar.

Buy It Today: 2008 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar: $19.99 + shipping.

Related Links
Check out Ricardo Levins Morales' very cool 2008 Coffee Calendar too!

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November 17, 2007

2008 Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar Preview

This week I've completed the final eight sketchtoon illustrations for my 2008 Sketchtoon Calendar, which will be going on sale soon:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

I've had lots of interest in my sketchtoons, so I've decided to post samples of each calendar page on Flickr and share the previews here. I'm planning to have the calendar ready for sale by next week Saturday, just in time for Christmas.

Once I complete the cover illustration, I'll be creating the calendar with an on-demand printing service. I've used use Cafe Press for calendar printing in the past, however, I plan to check out other on-demand printing services. If you have a service to recommend, let me know with a comment below.

Be the First to Know!
If you're interested in the 2008 Sketchtoon Calendar, and want to be the first to know when goes on sale, email me.

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November 15, 2007

Great Miquelrius Resource: ShopMiquelrius.com

A few weeks back I received an email from Todd Berryman, a radio host at 92.3 WTTS FM in Bloomington, Indiana.

Todd found me because I use Miquelrius notebooks daily for logo, icon and web design work. He wanted to know where I buy mine, as he was having trouble finding them at his local Barnes & Noble.

Since I'm on my last Miquelrius sketchbook, this issue hit close to home.

I haven't found them at my local B&N either. I figured they were simply out of stock. This email got me thinking — I should really locate a good online source for Miquelrius notebooks. Just in case.

Todd mentioned ShopMiquelrius.com, the online store for Miquelrius USA. Sure enough, they have a good selection of the soft-cover books I love so much, and several other options as well.

From Oops to Oh Yeah!
I ordered 3 green notebooks, but accidentally chose lined books instead of gridded. I immediately emailed the ShopMiquelrius help desk and within hours, I had personal emails back from Jennifer and her staff, letting me know they would take care of the error. Wow, that's what I call service!

I'm ordering all of my Miquelrius notebooks from ShopMiquelrius.com from now on. Yeah, they sell the notebooks I need at a decent price, but what sold me was how well they treated me, and how quickly they solved my problem.

An Affiliate Idea
Because of my personal contact with Jennifer, I asked if they happened to have an affiliate program for their products. Since I use the products and love ShopMiquelrius's service, why not share the resource with others and earn a few dollars leading buyers to them?

Jennifer said they didn't have an affiliate program in place, but she was very intrigued by the idea. After a little research and requests of the director, she got the green light to launch a trial affiliate program for 3 months. Very cool!

Today their new trial affiliate program is live on the site.

Support a Great Source
Seeking a good source for Miquelrius notebooks? I invite you to try ShopMiquelrius by using my affiliate link.

If you like their service, sign up for the affiliate program yourself, so your friends can use this resource, ShopMiquelrius can sell more books, and you can earn a little something to buy more Miquelrius notebooks with! :-)

P.S. I wasn't paid to write this post, didn't receive any free notebooks, and have only signed up for the affiliate link a few moments ago. I'm just a very happy customer who wants to share this great resource with other Miquelrius buyers, and to help ShopMiquelrius.com grow and thrive. It's the least I can do.

P.P.S. Just got word from Jennifer that ShopMiquelrius is having a Thanksgiving sale: 10% off all purchases for registered, logged-in users, from Noon EST November 15th through 11:59 PM on November 18th. To get the discount, use the code THANKS07.

Permalink | | Sketches | add to del.icio.us

November 13, 2007

Declining an Apple Job Opportunity

About a month ago, late on a Monday night, I received an intriguing email.

A senior recruiter at Apple found my blog, reviewed my design work and wondered if I might interested in a position on the iPhone/OS X design team.

At first I thought it was a joke. Surely this was a prank, sprung by my good buddy, Michael Ashby.

Then I did my research, and it was the real deal.

This was definitely Apple calling.

Holy smokes!

Talking with Apple
After the shock wore off, I setup a initial phone interview. I had to find out more. I contacted several good friends living in Silicon Valley, to learn more about working at Apple and living in California.

The next day, I had a great conversation with the recruiter. I shared my background and skills, learned more about the potential position, Apple, and California.

If I was interested in moving ahead with this, the next step was an icon design project and an essay on my solution for a UI design challenge.

With this huge opportunity on the table, I took time to get counsel from my wife, family and friends, to think through the ramifications and to pray for God's guidance.

After much thought and consideration I decided to decline the opportunity.

Decline? Are you NUTS Mike?!
The very idea that I was completely nuts did cross my mind. After all, this is Apple, and an opportunity to work on the iPhone/OS X design team!

The opportunity was extremely attractive. A potential opportunity of a lifetime — doing design work on the iPhone, for Apple. But upon reflection and reviewing who I am and what I'm all about, the answer was clear.

Here are the reasons I decided to decline:

I Love My Work
I realized how much I love the design work I do, and how satisfying it is to build brands with small companies. I love being an advisor to my clients, sharing my expertise with them. I enjoy working directly with business owners and entrepreneurs, developing brands that reach their customers and help them compete and win against bigger competitors. I love being my clients' secret weapon!

I Love Milwaukee
A move to California would have been part of the deal. I've been to California and it's a beautiful place, but I love living in the Milwaukee area. I like being able to own a home we can afford, in a quiet neighborhood with great schools. I've spent my life building lasting relationships here. My family is here. It's a wonderful place to raise a son. I love the seasons, the Packers. This is where I belong and I where want to stay.

I Love MakaluMedia
The company I work for is a large part of my success. MakaluMedia's owner, Matt Henderson has been a strong supporter for my 10+ years with the company. He was willing to try remote working in 1998, when it was new and untested. He was willing to let me go after clients and create a design firm within the company. Every day, I get to work with amazing colleagues and clients, and that's very meaningful to me.

Maybe I'm crazy for passing up a chance to work at Apple. I'm cool with that.

I know in my heart and soul, that declining this opportunity was the right decision for me and my family. I'm content knowing this is the place where I want to be and where God is working through me to help others and love others.

For my money, that's the right place to be.

Related Links
Cameron Moll: Why I passed up the chance to work at Apple

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October 30, 2007

SEED Conference Thoughts & Sketchnotes

Whew! I'm back from Monday's excellent SEED Conference in Chicago.

What a great event! The Illinois Institute of Technology and Rem Koolhaas' Tribune Student Center building, was an incredibly cool venue. Funky lines and the architectural space provided a unique backdrop for the sessions of the day.

Carlos Segura
All of the sessions were very good, though the most interesting for me as a designer was hearing Carlos Segura speak. He talked about taking risks and thinking deeper for clients and going beyond only what they ask to figuring out what they really need.

I was especially inspired by the Corbis Stock Photo case study, where Carlos' team changed the stock agency's overall approach to consider their clients (designers) and in doing so, changed an entire industry.

Segura also stressed keeping small, working on projects and with clients you really want to work with. Good work comes from these situations, and by staying small you aren't constantly taking jobs you dislike just to keep everyone busy. In fact, this turned into a thread that connected all of the talks of the day.

Jason Fried
Jason spoke very briefly, so he could open the floor for lots of Q&A time. He recommended these 5 items:

Watch out for red flags
Keep your team small
Make sure your staff has alone time
Keep meetings short and focused
Make tiny decisions instead of massive ones

Jason also recommended a small team size, though his perspective focused a little more on communication issues with small vs. large teams and scaling projects to fit your team size rather than scaling your team to fit scope.

I resonated most with Jason's call for alone time. I work remotely, but even though I work alone, there is always a temptation towards IM, email or phone calls, and I find that blocking out chunks of alone time makes a difference. I know this may be a tough one for the multi-tasking generation, but I think it really can help your focus.

Jim Coudal
I loved Jim Coudal's candor and relaxed approach, and especially his openness in sharing his firm's successes and failures. He shared several stories and films, and drew ideas from them. My take away:

Be curious
Choose people on their taste
Don't be afraid to fail

Jim talked about his curiosity and how many of the things he's been curious about have turned into business ideas. Curiosity helps with client work, since you can get to speed quickly and often see a problem from a different perspective than the client.

He also talked about identifying people and hiring them on taste over technical talent. Not untalented people with taste, but rather if you had to choose between two people and one had good taste, go with taste over talent.

Coudal suggested that failures are OK. They're learning experiences which often create opportunities that might never have happened otherwise. You have to learn to identify and capitalize on unexpected opportunities that often grow out of failures.

Discussion Session: Segura, Fried & Coudal
The most interesting of the sessions was the final hour or so of open discussion time with Carlos, Jason and Jim at the front of the room. They fielded all sorts of questions from attendees about their ideas. Questions about small teams, marketing, simplicity, community, building products while still managing client work, questions about creating apps that rely solely on other platorms (Facebook), and more.

Of all the sessions, this was the one I and the 4 other guys I met, thought was the best of all. Why? Because they had a chance to respond immediately and candidly to random questions. I also enjoyed hearing them discuss and explore ideas in depth that hadn't come out in their talks. Finally, it was interesting to hear their similarity of thought and subtle differences of approach and opinion on the same questions.

Sketchnotes
As mentioned last week, I took my pocket Moleskine sketchbook along and captured 17 pages of sketchnotes, from the entire day's talks and discussions, including Carlos Segura, Jason Fried, Edward Lifson and Jim Coudal.

I didn't try to capture everything said during yeterday's event, since others were probably doing that.

Instead, I took time to listen and analyze the talks, distilling and capturing the main ideas I was hearing. By doing a bit of on-the-fly processing, it forced me to boil down what was being said, then express it in ink on the page in a way that would be meaningful to me and to others who might read my sketchnotes later.

To make the notes interesting, I played with typography and images with the sketchnotes, to provide a little texture and depth beyond pages of gray text.

SEED Sketchnotes on Coudal Partners
Seems my notes have struck a chord. Jim Coudal of Coudal Partners emailed about my sketchnotes on Flickr and made mention in their Fresh Signals feed. Thanks Jim!

SEED Sketchnotes on Signal vs. Noise
Awesome! 37signals noticed them too: Mike Rohde's SEED Conference 2007 sketchbook notes. Thanks Matt!

Pretty cool to have speakers and sponsors mention notes taken during the event. :-)

Overall, SEED Conference was well worth the time and price to attend.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

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October 1, 2007

BarCampMilwaukee2 Shirts: To the Printer

This afternoon, I took the final BarcampMilwaukee2 T-Shirt art, sizes and specs to MJM Ventures. 290 shirts are now in production, with delivery of the shirts set for Thursday October 11th.

After 12:00 today, I closed the window for new BarCamp registrants to gurantee their shirt sizes. I had to deliver the information and art today, so MJM could make the October 11th delivery deadline. That's the way it goes.

Registranst will still have shots at shirts, as I have about 75 extra shirts ordered for walk ups, to be given given out on a first-come, first serve basis.

Final Artwork
Here are snapshots of the final front and back artwork:

T-Shirt Front: Navy blue and rich gold.

T-Shirt Back: Solid Navy blue logo and sponsor names in the shape on an X.

Thank You!
Thanks go to Jen Anne for her wonderful illustrations, MJM for shirt selection and production, Pete Prodoehl (A.K.A. ChaosLord) for advice and information from last year's shirts and Blake Hall for all of his help creating t-shirt lists in Drupal.

BarCampMilwaukee2 is less than 2 weeks away! Sign up now!

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September 6, 2007

Ecto 3 Icon Design

In the flurry of activity here, I've not had a chance to mention the release of the new ecto 3 application icon I've designed for Adriaan at Infinite Sushi:

Working on this one was quite fun, going through the sketch process, until we came to this solution of a box with items you might use for blogging inside. It was a different approach for a blogging app icon, but that's just what Adriaan liked best.

Fireworks & Upscaling
I designed the original icon as a standard 128x128px icon, then later in the process, Adriaan needed a 256x256px version for other uses. I took the opportunity to refine the details, like adding actual lines of text to the documents.

Because I used Fireworks' vector tools to build this icon, it was relatively easy to upscale the 256px icon from the original 128px icon. The initial up-scaled icon wasn't perfect, but good enough to save a god chunk time rebuilding the icon from scratch if it were a 128px bitmap icon.

Thanks Adriaan for working with me on this fun project! :-)

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August 27, 2007

ProBlogger Logo Design

At the end of May, Darren Rowse contacted me through MakaluMedia, to redesign the ProBlogger logo.

Darren has one of the net's most popular blogs, and is one of the founders of b5media. I was honored to have a chance at designing the new identity, so I agreed to come on board the design team with Darren's site designer, Ben Bleikamp.

Darren's story is interesting, not only because he turned blogging from a hobby into a full-time career and business, but because he freely shares what he's learned from blogging. I quite like Darren's attitude of helping others grow and succeed by sharing his knowledge.

In this post, I'll share details and sketches on the new ProBlogger identity.

Initial Specs and Feedback
Darren answered my standard list of questions, and from his initial feedback I gathered several themes to embrace and portray with the new ProBlogger identity. He wanted ProBlogger to be:

A welcoming community where bloggers can learn and grow
A source of information on making income from a blog
A site promoting professionalism in blogging
An extensive blogging reference
Keywords: income, professionalism, community, inspiration, credibility, encouraging

Darren wanted a clean, crisp, contemporary, professional logo, without superfical "Web 2.0" stylings. He wanted a logo to represent himself and his blog, in a design that wouldn't go out of style in 6 months.

Sketches v1
With all of this information in mind, I began sketching multiple concepts to get the project rolling (click the image to see the v1 sketches).

With all of my logo projects, I like to loosen up with pencil in my Miquelrius notebook, freeing my mind to explore ideas. Note the keywords on the upper right of the page, which help guide me in idea generation during this first sketch phase.

I focused on theProBlogger P, as it portrays the brand well, and would be a consistent element from the original design. I explored one other idea (8) which suggested community as a nucleus with network connections and multiple outer atoms.

In Darren's feedback, I learned that he liked the emphasis on the P. He preferred the squarer P characters, as these leaned away from the "surf" look and feel he saw in ideas 17, 18 and 19. He also liked the community concept he saw in 8, so it was on to v2 sketches to explore those ideas a bit more.

Sketches v2
I this set, I explored the winning concepts and a few others, bringing in aspects of idea 8 and the community "atomic" ideas merged with the P character.

After review, Darren and his team of trusted advisers focused on two ideas from this v2 set: concepts 19 and 23. Next up was the black & white and color phase.

Black & White and Color Concepts
Because Darren was on a tight timeline, I changed my normal process, including both black & white and color logos on the same mockups. This way Darren could see the B&W ideas and some explorations of initial colors.

Concepts v1:
In the first set you'll see I came up with ideas based on the v2 sketches (2, 3, 4 and 5), along with a new idea (1) which came out I worked with the logos. Sometimes this happens, and I've learned to go with the flow and include these as options:

Darren's feedback from round 1 aimed us at the P within a nucleus circle with orbiting atoms around this central icon to embed the concept of comminity into the mark. While the more graphical representations of this community were interesting (1, 2 and 3), the clearer P emerged as Darren's top choice.

Concepts v2:
Based on feedback from v1, I narrowed to the single P with orbiting atoms, exploring different ways the atoms could be positioned, the connection between atoms and the outer ring, a font option and variations on the provided color pallette:

Concepts v3:
Darren really liked the color combo in ideas 7 and 8 in this set, leaning toward 7 a bit more. He wanted to keep the "P" and "BLOGGER" in orange and do one final exploration on atom position and separation between the atom and the outer ring. So I did a final v3 to help Darren see the 3 final options:

In the final version, I felt the leading atom suggested forward movement, and the separation of the atoms from the circle provided focus to the 3 atoms. 7.1 was chosen as the final winner:

Conclusion
Darren was pleased with the final logo, which was subsequently included in Ben's redesign of the site. It was great fun to see the logo announced on Darren's blog, followed by the release of the new site design.

As one might expect, with a major change on a popular site, there were a few who liked the old design better. However, after reading comments on the site related to the new logo and design, a majority of Darren's readers really loved the new site design and logo. Most importantly, Darren was pleased with the results.

Thanks Darren for choosing to work with me and MakaluMedia on the logo design. It was an honor and a pleasure working with Darren and Ben on this project.

Related Links
A New Look for ProBlogger - Coming Soon (Very Soon) (ProBlogger)
New Design Update (ProBlogger)
We’re Entering New Design Transition Phase (ProBlogger)
ProBlogger Redesign - Bedding Down for the Night (ProBlogger)
Redesign of Problogger.net - Designer Tells All (ProBlogger)
Redesign of Problogger.net (Ben Bleikamp)

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June 22, 2007

My Podcast Interview on The Micro ISV Show

A few weeks ago, I was invited by author, micro-business owner and new MakaluMedia logo design client Bob Walsh, to be interviewed on Microsoft's The MicroISV Show (a podcast for software developers) with co-host Michael Lehman:

It's a brave new world for MicroISVs in which it's no longer enough to drag some controls onto a form and simply make sure they're lined up and the tab order is right. The mantra "form follows function" is becoming more and more important for developers as advent of Windows Vista, WPF and Silverlight once again change the expectations of how customers perceive software. You've got to "put your best face forward" and think about design of the user experience right from the beginning.
In this episode, Michael Lehman and Bob Walsh talk to Mike Rohde, designer and art director for MakaluMedia, about the changing role of design in software development and how and why MicroISVs must incorporate design thinking into their development process.

Listen to The Micro ISV Show #22 podcast:

• Putting your best face forward - The growing importance of design for MicroISVs
• Direct Podcast MP3 Link (Size: 36MB, Runtime: 40:13)

We had a great time! I had an opportunity to talk a bit about my views on design being more than window-dressing on applications, the importance of starting early with a designer, how to choose a designer, vector-based development tools and how they may effect developers and designers, and more.

Bob worked in questions about my creative process, asked how I generate so many sketch ideas, and even slipped in a mention of my Moleskine Planner Hack project.

Have a listen and let me know what you think.

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June 15, 2007

Friday Tidbits: Pudding, Journler & Northern Room

Here are a few Friday tidbits to share:

Ataraxis Pudding Launches
Pudding, a tool crearted by Michael Sica, launched last Friday. It's a web-based tool for sharing creative work with others. Pudding allows you to post images of your work in a private account, for clients and colleagues, to view and comment on. It comes in many flavors depending on your needs, free 30 day trial and a tour to see what Pudding can do.

Journler Gets 4.5 Mice from Macworld!
My friend Phil Dow's wornderful mac application Journler just received 4.5 mice from Macworld, in an August 2007 review. I've talked about the icon I designed and how I love the application — so it's very nice to see a great guy like Phil, seeing success and critical acclaim for the hard work he's invested in Journler.

Good Tunes: Northern Room
A few weeks ago I came across the local Milwaukee band Northern Room, via my good friend Joe Phillips. They have a great sound, which I quite like. I'd categorize their sound as similar to Snow Patrol, U2, Coldplay, and O.K. Go. Check out Northern Room on iTunes, Purevolume and SonicBids.

That's all — have a great weekend everyone!

Permalink | | Technology | add to del.icio.us

June 14, 2007

"Trying to look good limits my life." — Stefan Sagmeister

I love that quote from Stefan Sagmeister.

It questions concerns with looking good, in context of being real and taking risks. Trying new things. Doing something that may not exactly fit your image.

Why are we so concerned with looking good?

Of course, I understand why on one level. You want to look good for your friends and family, your employer, customers, prospective clients, and people in general. That's not what I mean.

I mean maintaining "appearances" rather than letting down your guard and being real.

I mean sharing weaknesses with your family and friends now and then.

Trying the sushi, kimchee or flaming cheese, exactly because eating those strange foods is both scary and exciting.

One thing for me it's not always letting others know what bothers me.

I'm getting better about being assertive and sharing these things, but it's hard. I don't want to hurt feelings. What might people think?

On the other hand, I need to be real and honest. It's limiting my life.

I'm working on it and will try to let go of looking good in exchange for being real.

How does trying to look good limit your life?

Here's Stefan's TED talk, in which he talks about happiness and how it relates to design. This quote is mentioned near the end of his 15 minute talk.

Check out more information on the design piece "Trying to look good limits my life" on Sagmeister's company website.

I've also found a Hillman Curstis short film on Stefan, sponsored by Adobe.

Finally, Stefan's interview at DesignBoom.

Permalink | | Observations | add to del.icio.us

June 5, 2007

Paul Stamatiou's Logo Design Project

I've just completed a logo design project with tech guru, and fellow 9rules blogger, Paul Stamatiou.

Paul writes commentary and reviews on varied topics with a focus on technology, and has very high visibility on the web. So as you can imagine, I found it a fun challenge to work with Paul.

Below are links to the set of mockups and final art at Paul's Flickr account:

Paul Stamatiou Logo Design Set
Paul Stamatiou Final Logo Design Spec Sheet

It was fun, and different working with Paul, since he put all of the sketches, black and white and color mockups I did for him on Flickr — as they were delivered — and opened them up for public comments. I've not had that kind of in-progress, public critique done with my work before. Paul and the commenters liked the work and through the normal process, Paul selected a final winner.

One advantage to having your client post in-progress to final work posted on Flickr is, prospective clients can see the process, how it works and looks — which hopefully sends them to me and MakaluMedia for their identity design.

All in all, it was a blast working with Paul. I think we've found a clean, crisp and memorable mark for Paul to use as personal branding, on the blog and for other things, which makes me very happy.

Thanks for choosing to work with me Paul! :-)

Permalink | | Logos | add to del.icio.us

June 1, 2007

Panoramio (and logo) are acquired by Google

Congratulations to my friends Eduardo, Joaquín and José of Panoramio, in the recent Google acquisition of their startup!

From the Panoramio blog post on May 31st:

The integration of photos from Panoramio in Google Earth has been so successful since John Hanke suggested it that we see the acquisition of Panoramio as a natural consequence. We have tightened our relationship with Google Earth more and more in recent months, and at the end we decided to walk one step further. After so much work together, honestly, we couldn’t imagine a better scenario than selling Panoramio to Google.

I was honored to work with "the boyz" back in October 2005, when we created the Panoramio identity (along with two other identities after it, including Cursoo).

I'm very excited for the Panoramio team, and just as excited that the identity work for the project had a small part in helping the team get to the next level.

Congratulations guys! :-)

Permalink | | Logos | add to del.icio.us

May 22, 2007

Design Portfolio Sets on Flickr

Busy, busy busy!

It's a busy spring here, working on all sorts of design goodies for clients at MakaluMedia. Because of this, I've had limited time to write up detailed logo design articles, like the ones I've done for Red 66, BOWN and cgi Interactive.

In March, I finally bought a Flickr Pro account. Why did I wait so long? I'm loving the ability to create and manage sets of images — It's been well worth the $24.95/year.

I've wasted no time, creating several sets of design work. Sets are a great way to gather similar works in one location on Flickr. Here are links to the sets:

Created with Paul's flickrSLiDR.

Logo Design — A sampling of logos created over the past several years.

Icon Design — Several samples of Mac OS X and other icon design projects.

Web Design — Screenshots from mockups and final pages of web design work.

Print Design — A sampling of print design projects I've worked on.

T-Shirt Design — T-Shirt design samples, including the Espresso Powered line.

Sketchtoons — A comprehensive sampling of scanned sketchtoons.

Hopefully this little public service announcement will make it easier for readers and visitors to check out the work I love doing every single day. :-)

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May 1, 2007

Espresso Powered T-Shirt: Printed Sample & Notes

Today I received a copy of the black Espresso Powered T-Shirt I designed at GoodStorm and WOW! did it turn out well!

You can see me holding my son Nathan, wearing the new t-shirt. The red object in Nathan's hand is a petal from a tulip he picked from mom's garden. :-)

I was quite impressed with the print quality on black — the whites are bright and crisp, brown colors are rich and strong and there's even a nice, subtle speckling of the gradated tones in the artwork. Very nice.

I chose the heavyweight shirt and the quality is good. It's a nice cotton fabric, in a rich coal black.

Emblem Detail
Below I've posted a close-up shot of the emblem on the shirt, so you can see the print quality with a little more detail. Click the image below to see a larger version.

GoodStorm uses a digital printing method to create these shirts, with very good results. Now I wonder if complex shirt graphics might be better reproduced with digital printing than with traditional screen-printing.

If you like what you see, pick up your own Espresso Powered T-Shirt in one of three colors: black, pebble or white.

Espresso Powered T-Shirts
Espresso Powered Black T-Shirt: $12 + Shipping
Espresso Powered Pebble T-Shirt: $11 + Shipping
Espresso Powered White T-Shirt: $10 + Shipping
GoodStorm Rohdesign T-Shirt Store

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April 30, 2007

Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar Preview

While riding the train to Chicago with my friend Sean last week, he reminded me of a sketchtoon calendar project that's been on the backburner due to my very busy schedule.

Sean saw the black and white sketches in my Moleskine sketchbook, and heard my idea of selling the calendar online, to people and small coffee houses. He seemed very excited about the coffee calendar idea.

Now I'm reinvigorated to finish the project! :-)

While I'm wrapping up the final art, I've decided to share previews of 4 calendar pages, to gauge interest in a Sketchtoon Coffee Calendar for 2008.

Would a calendar like this interest you? Feel free to leave comments here or on Flickr. I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts.

Permalink | | Sketchtoons | add to del.icio.us

April 27, 2007

UX Intensive Chicago 2007: Thoughts & Sketchnotes

This week I attended Adaptive Path's UX Intensive: Interaction Design Workshop in Chicago. I've decided to share my thoughts on the event and my set of sketchnotes on the blog.

UX Intensive event was a 4-day series of workshops and lectures, and of those 4 days, I attended 1: Interaction Design. Here are my thoughts about that particular event:

The Speakers & Venue
Overall it was a good experience. Dan Saffer and Kim Lenox are both very smart, talented designers who know their stuff. I gleaned good ideas for tweaking my own design process, and was affirmed in the approach and process I already follow.

The Black Orchid was an OK venue. The room was relatively spacious, and the food was quite good. The tables, however, were designed for drinks while listening to jazz — not ideal for taking notes or working, and not positioned ideally for a conference. I got a bit of a cramp from sitting at an angle at my table, trying watch the speaker and take notes.

Workshop or Lecture?
UX Intensive was billed as a "workshop" even though Wednesday's Interactive Design session was actually a day-long series of lectures. Even though the topic very much interested me, by about 2pm I was having a hard time focusing, even after a second Starbucks cappuccino.

I heard from Matt and Que, 2 guys I met at my table, that Monday's Design Strategy and Tuesday's Design Research sessions were true workshops, with activities and interaction between the attendees — much different than Wednesday's lectures.

Concepts I Liked
There were many good ideas shared by Dan and Kim, some of which I'll note below:

• Research is useless in a raw, unstructured form. It's critical to filter the information and draw insights and conclusions from your research that can be applied to the project. I liked Dan's suggestion to use physical and visual representations of research, using post-it walls and drawings on various surfaces.

• Brainstorming for quantity and brainstorming in categories. Dan suggested brainstorming sprints with limited times and an emphasis on many ideas in that time. I also liked his idea of brainstorming within narrower categories, then displaying findings in a matrix or a grid.

• Failure is OK. A 50% failure rate was suggested as a good thing. I've noticed that in my sketches, the more ideas I can get through the sooner I usually find a solution. Trying out ideas that may fail, lead to a good ideas, so I find this to be very true.

• Good designers make better guesses. Intuition is important in design, and it's based on making good guesses. Dan shared principles and techniques for making better guesses and decisions.

• Living Documents. Kim Lenox talked about designing for suites and platforms, suggesting the use of living documents, sharing information and innovations, consistency and that interaction designers need to think about the integration of 3 key areas: the PC, the Internet and mobile devices.

• All products are broken. By starting with this premise, we're free to try and improve products rather than making them perfect and completely free of brokeness. Dan talked about good areas to focus on for fixes, breaking fixes down into smaller chunks, and the use of quick n' dirty wireframes with screenshots (I use this approach, and it works great!)

• Constant Communication. Use various tools such as blogs and wikis within your team, to keep communication lines open with each other, and to capture information as living documents.

View my detailed notes in my UX Intensive sketchnotes on Flickr.

Suggestions
I'll end this post with my thoughts on how the Design Interaction portion of the UX Intensive event could be improved:

• Call it a workshop only if it has workshop activities. I came expecting interaction and activities with my design colleagues and instead got a day of lectures. Workshop activities would have broken up the time, made it easier for me to focus on the ideas and apply them practically.

• Add more breaks. We had breaks for lunch and for the morning and afternoon sessions, which were great. However, because of the day-long lecture format, by the afternoon I needed mini breaks in-between the individual sessions. By about 2pm I was losing focus on the topics that a few mini-breaks may have helped with.

• Show more real-world examples. We had some nice examples in the lectures by Dan and Kim, but I wanted to see more of them to illustrate the concepts presented. Having more examples might also have helped my focus in the afternoon.

• Go narrower and deeper. I think reducing quantity of material covered and focusing on deeper real-world examples, discussions on those ideas and workshop activities might improve the relevance of the information to attendees. So much info was presented, that I couldn't adequately digest, discuss or apply with those ideas to my own design practices.

I hope these thoughts are helpful to fellow designers, and might be useful to Adaptive Path in tuning and perfecting their UX Intensive series in Amsterdam in June.

Many thanks to MakaluMedia (my employer), for sending me to the event.

Technorati Tags: uxichi07, chicago, design, rohdesign

Permalink | | Web Design | add to del.icio.us

April 12, 2007

Embracing Iterative Design Talk (Slides & Audio)

Tonight I gave a talk to the Web414 group on embracing iteration in the design process, and I think it went pretty well.

I discussed what iteration was and gave ideas on how to embrace iteration and use it to your advantage when designing logos, website and more.

I shared sketches, black and white and color artwork from the Blit logo design, and the UserScape web redesign. We had a great discussion in the Q&A, where I had a chance to share details of my design thinking related to both of these projects. It was fun to get up in front of my Web414 friends and talk about my design work.

Interested in checking out my slides from the talk? You can view the Slides on Slideshare or on Flickr.

You can listen to my talk, recorded at April's Web414 meeting in MP3 format, or hear it streamed here from Blip.tv at the end of this post, or stream it from Archive.org at the link below:

Mike Rohde: Embracing Iterative Design (Archive.org)

Thanks Pete for recording it for me!

You may also want to read my article at Graphic Define on the same topic.

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April 11, 2007

AdaptivePath UX Intensive & SOBCon07 Blog Conference

I'm excited about the end of April and beginning of May, because I'm attending 2 important events in the Chicago area. Both look like great events.

Since I'm a Chicago kid, going back to the hometown is always great fun. I'm planning on a train ride for one event and a road trip with a friend for the second. If I'm lucky, I'll even meet up with a few Chicago friends while in town.

Here are the two events I'm attending:

Adaptive Path: UX Intensive: Interaction Design Workshop
The First event on my schedule is Adaptive Path's UX Intensive: Interaction Design Workshop, happening on Wednesday April 25, at the Black Orchid in Chicago:

In this course, you will build upon your understanding of the principles of interaction design by learning tools and techniques that will improve your interaction design work and your collaboration with your teammates. Will be led by Dan Saffer, a Senior Interaction Designer at Adaptive Path and author of Designing for Interaction.

I'm very excited about growing more deeply in my interaction design practices, being challenged in new ways, and meeting some interesting people at the event.

SOBCon07: Successful Outstanding Blogger Conference 2007
The next event, SOBCon07, takes place Friday, May 11th and Saturday 12th at Hotel Sofitel at Chicago's O'Hare airport:

An evening and a day of community, strategy, and information about the art, technology, and science of relationship blogging for 250 experienced bloggers.
We will demonstrate to 250 bloggers how to take their existing blogs to the next level through interactive presentations on publishing, design and branding, tools, analytics, social networking, marketing, and coaching, from the perspectives of the blogger and the audience.

I'm heading down with my blogpal Phil Gerbyshak, who I suspect will know tons of people, and introduce me to more than I can remember. I'm looking forward to meeting other bloggers, and learning how to be a better blogger.

I'll likely write follow-up reports on the events, so keep an eye open here for those.

If you happen to be attending either UX Intensive or SOBCon07, drop me a line!

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April 10, 2007

Embracing Iterative Design at Graphic Define & Web414

Yesterday I saw that my design buddy Daniel Schutzsmith launched Graphic Define Magazine, a online magazine of design and design business issues — for designers.

I'm thrilled to see my article, Embracing Iterative Design, is featured in the inaugural issue. The article is based on the post Embrace the Creative Process, with expansion on practical ways to take advantage of an iterative creative process.

I'm giving a talk on the same topic on Thursday the 12th at MSOE, for Web414, the local Milwaukee Web Design group I'm a member of. There I'll discuss these ideas, share samples of my iterative work, and take questions from fellow members. So, if you're in Milwaukee on Thursday, feel free to attend that free meeting.

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March 29, 2007

Learning Good Value from My Local Garage

Today I was pondering why customers hire me to help solve their design challenges.

I believe it comes down to one simple thing: providing good value.

What's good value?
It's demonstrated by my local garage, Gordy's Service on 84th and Bluemound in Milwaukee.

Why? Because the guys there treat me well, tell me when fixes are truly critical and try hard keep my costs reasonable, as long as it doesn't jeopardize our family's safety or our car's well-being.

They open early and stay open late. They're up the street from Stone Creek Coffee, so I can do a little work while I wait for my cars to be serviced. Their guys are friendly and quick and they tell me the truth.

When it was time to buy new tires last year, I went to Gordy's. Turns out they weren't much more than the big retailer at the Mall. I know if I have questions, Gordy's guys are there to help. In fact, I think they were a better value, because I knew the same guy who installed them would be there if I had a question.

What happens when Gordy's gives me a good value? I tell other people about them, and faithfully get my work done there, even if I have to schedule an appointment because they're busy.

This is what I strive for daily in my own business dealings with clients. To be honest and clear, helpful and understanding. To help solve challenges for a reasonable price. To be fast, good and to tell the truth.

To provide a good value to my clients.

What's your definition of good value?

Photo by Michael Bowman (Duff Suds)

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March 23, 2007

Journler Mini Review & Icon Design

I've been using Journler a great Mac OS X journaling, tidbit-capturing, swiss army knife application for the past several months, and it's high time I share it here on the weblog.

On Thursday, Journler 2.5 was released, a major milestone for the app, including many new features, a new look and feel and an icon I designed with the developer, Phil Dow.

I love this multi-purpose capture tool, as I can store all sorts of useful information in one place. I can keep track of logo projects here, standard templates for emails, references to recipes and even links to external files.

I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface of Journler's capabilities. It integrates to iLife, I can capture images, video and audio, it uses of the 'Services" menu to capture information from other applications, and has a 'Journler Drop Box' folder for an easy way of importing or linking files to Journler.

Like NetNewsWire (another favorite app), Journler features a built-in webkit-based web browser, so I don't need to leave Journler to check out a weblink.

Here's a screenshot of how I have Journler setup:

Phil has a nice approach to purchasing Journler, with a donation option for personal use, and a $24.95 if you use Journler for business purposes. Not bad.

If you're a Mac OS X user, interested in finding a tool to capture the snippets of your life, a place to write journal entries, and more, check out Journler.

It's highly recommend, even if I'm a little biased about the icon design. :-)

Permalink | | Macintosh | add to del.icio.us

March 19, 2007

Embrace the Creative Process

I've noticed a recurring theme emerging in the logo, icon and web design work I've been doing the past year — the importance of loving the creative process and embracing design iterations, rather than fighting them.

Sometimes design iterations can feel like barriers to finishing a project. However, I find that by flowing with iterations and the process of design, I end up with better work in the end. Design is all about iteration, and exploring crazy, spur of the moment ideas.

I think this quote sums it up nicely:

"Keep in touch with your soul by developing your technique. There are no mistakes, so... just work. The more you work the more you'll figure out if that's your bliss." — Fernando Araujo

Embrace the process. iterations are a chance to push yourself to the next level. When you embrace and enjoy the process, you'll see your joy reflected in your work.

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March 14, 2007

HoudahGeo Icon Design

Just this week I've completed the application icon for one of my MakaluMedia clients, Pierre Bernard of Houdah Software, on his latest beta application HoudahGeo. In June 2006, I designed the icon for Pierre's first OS X application, HoudahSpot.

HoudahGeo allows you to geocode photos with latitude, longitude and altitude information. Take your photos, "pin" their locations on the earth, then export information to EXIF tags or Google Earth KML files, letting you can see the images in Google Earth.

Sketches
Pierre and I started working with pencil sketches, using a globe with photos stuck to the surface, and a satellite in orbit around it, as you can see below:

1. In my first sketches, I focused on a single satellite, beaming information to/from photos on the surface of the globe. At this stage I hadn't worked out continents or exact placement of the photos, but knew I liked this general idea.

2. Here I played around with the idea of both a satellite and a camera orbiting the earth, and had by this round, started exploring continents and image locations a bit more. In the end, we discussed the camera+satellite option and felt the camera was redundant and not necessary to get the message across.

Production Icons
Next I went to production, using Fireworks to create the vector-based artwork. After a rough first draft, Pierre had an idea to try a pushpin in place of a satellite, though in the end, we felt the satellite just worked better.

With each successive revision, the earth was refined, satellite tweaked, highlights, glows and adjustments made. Here I've placed the first 4 revisions together to give you an idea how the process generally works:

The final adjustments and tweaks happened on icon v5, including a size up of the earth about 5-6%, lightening of the satellite's pulse glow and a few adjustments to photo locations on the earth itself.

Fireworks as Tool of Choice
The construction if icons using vectors in Fireworks, greatly assists in these kind of subtle tweaks. Because all of the elements are created as vector items, they can be easily sized up and down with no degradation of image quality, or moved around without worrying about re-applying masks or filters.

For comparison purposes, here is the final, winning HoudahGeo icon v5:

Thanks Pierre for choosing to work with me and MakaluMedia on your latest Mac application! I had a great time working with you on another fun icon project. :-)

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February 7, 2007

Red 66 Logo Design

In mid-2006, Carlos Granier-Phelps contacted me at MakaluMedia, about designing a new logo for Red 66, his consulting business focusing on Web 2.0, usability, Internet video technologies, digital security, ratings analysis software for TV stations, and web/tech consulting for movies & TV.

I worked with Carlos to gather my standard information package his company structure and outward image goals, his likes, dislikes in color and design and other tidbits that would give me insight in the sketch stage of the project.

Carlos wanted the logo to embody many different aspects of his personality and his business, including: hip, clean, dynamic, safe, fun, global, innovative, and high-tech. Quite a challenge, but I felt confident that by working with Carlos through the normal sketch to final process, we would find the right solution.

Sketches
First, I brought out the trusty Miquelrius sketchbook and pencil, and began capturing ideas as they came to mind, after reading Carlos' notes. Below I've posted thumbnails of complete sketches and artwork: click each image to see a full version:

Here you can see I explored a wide variety of ideas, playing with the interesting shapes created by dual 6s. I felt drawn to circular shapes enclosing or working with "66", as 6s are organic and round.

Carlos quite liked idea 27, since it seemed to capture Route 66, which was a positive thing in his mind, yet had a clean, simple look he was aiming for. He also liked 16 and 18, and oddly enough, liked the 2 Route 66-style ideas below 5 and 6, which I hadn't even highlighted on the page!

So, after some discussion, I prepared a second set of sketches, focusing on the narrowed field of ideas.

Here you can see the Route 66 approach expanded greatly, along with square idea 18 and the circular idea 27 from the first round of sketches.

After review of the second set, and my suggestions to lean toward 9, 10 and 7, Carlos settled on these ideas to prepare black and white concepts to narrow to a finalized design.

Black & White Concepts
This is a very critical phase, where my rough concept sketches are turned into production quality art. It is here, where a mark is proven to work, or not work in the simplest form possible — black and white. Often, this is the moment where an idea tends to shine and separate itself as the right solution, or fade as an also-ran. The Red 66 logo project was no exception, as the circular concept 9a immediately and clearly step out front as the winning black and white mark.

Color: Round 1
Outside of coming up with ideas, color can often be a tough stage. Colors are often emotional, which is why I like to have a solid black and white logo selected before moving to the color application phase. On set 1, I explored a variety of color combinations, taking into account Carlos' location in Miami as one aspect of color influence.

Color: Round 2
Based on this round we wanted to refine the color selections a bit more, to include brighter colors and explore reds and burgundy colors with similar tones and contrasting choices, like blue-green, orange and teal.

At this point, both Carlos and I honed in on idea 8.3 as our color winner. It had the nice light/dark red tones to reinforce the "red" theme, with a secondary Miami-influenced, cool retro blue-green outer ring for contrast. It had a muted, yet strong overall feel that we both liked.

Conclusion
Since creating the new mark, Carlos has applied it to his blog, and other materials. I'm very pleased with the simplicity and cleanliness of the Red 66 logo — it's organic and smooth, yet has a hint of hip retro Miami.

Thanks Carlos for working with MakaluMedia and I on your new Red 66 logo!

Permalink | | Logos | add to del.icio.us

January 17, 2007

Business Opportunities Weblog Network Logo Design

In late 2006, Dane Carlson of the Business Opportunities Weblog Network contracted me BOWN Final Logo at MakaluMedia, to design an identity for his weblog network.

The Business Opportunities Weblog Network (BOWN) is described as a "moderated list of legitimate business opportunities for entrepreneurs", which features lists of business ideas, and tips.

Dane has been blogging since 2001, and wanted a new corporate identity that was fresh and clean, to help realign his blog.

So, Dane and I started through our normal process of getting information from goals, the business, his color and style likes and dislikes, and other useful information to help me develop good design ideas.

Dane liked the general idea of a lightbulb, so I included this idea, along with several other ideas, to make sure we explored all options.

Challenges
While "Business Opportunities Weblog Network" was descriptive, it's a really long name to deal with when creating a logo design. It would be challenging to be find a way to list the full name and not let the words dominate the identity.

Another challenge, related to the long name, was keeping the identity simple and easily recognizable. How do you show a business network in a single symbol?

Sketches
Once Dane's information was read and digested, I brought out the sketchbook and pencil to get ideas on paper. In 2 rounds of sketches I produced several interesting ideas, incorporating the lightbulb and other ideas for representations of a network. Here are a few selected sketches:

1. This idea featured "Business Opportunities" larger, and a briefcase fashioned from triangular shapes, woth "Weblog Network" tucked under the larger type.

2. On this concept, I've replaced the briefcase symbol with an interconnected triangular grid symbol, to emphasize the network nature of the name.

3. Here I'm indicating a stylized lightbulb to the left, Business with most emphasis and "Opportunities" and "Weblog Network" descending in size and importance.

4. The winning idea shows a lightbulb within a circular symbol on the left, and an alternate dark version on the right. The idea was to show the lightbulb as a node on a network, incorporating both a bulb and network in the logo.

Black & White Art
Once the winning concept of a lightbulb on a network, inside of a circle containing the type was selected, I moved to produce the black and white version of the logo for Dane. The black and white phase went pretty quickly, and we both liked how the concept translated from sketch into black and white art. The next challenge was color.

Color Art
In the color phase, I wanted to show Dane some color varieties, but didn't want to do too many at one time, so I selected 3 color themes with both flat and gradated options, and presented them:

Our eyes were pretty immediately drawn to blue, orange and green. I also liked the blue/green option, though the orange center circle of the first idea (B&C) really seemed to convey a warmth to balance the cool crispness of the green and blue.

After a little deliberation, Dane chose the blue/orange/green option as the winner.

Conclusion
Just last week, Dane completed his redesign of the Business Opportunities Weblog Network weblog, and used the new logo design to shape his redesign. I really like how the colors feel warm, yet crisp and clean, and after not seeing the logo between delivery and appearance, I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

My thanks go to Dane Carlson for choosing to work with me and MakaluMedia on his new identity. We both had a great time collaborating and I think we came up with a fun, attractive logo design.

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January 4, 2007

Word Count Journal Launch & Design Notes

On January 1st, 2007, Word Count Journal, a new project our MakaluMedia crew has been working on, launched for public consumption.

The Word Count Journal idea is simple — sign up and then write a little bit each day for 365 days. If you write the minimum every day for a whole year, you'll have written at least 66,795 words. Word Count Journal is especially well-suited to anyone who wants some encouragement to keep their words flowing every day.

I wasn't sure if the idea would interest me as a blogger, but it's actually pretty fun. You aren't penalized for missing a few days, since you can always log in and quickly catch up on your posts.

I've even found it fun to write more than the day requires — you only need to meet the minimum, but it's sometimes easier to keep on rolling.

My Word Count Journals Page

And now, a few words on the design of the Word Count Journal site.

Word Count Journal Identity Design
Our team had a great time working through the design of the site. I had the pleasure of designing the Word Count Journal logo, as well as assisting my colleague Alex Bendiken in establishing a site design based on the new identity.

I had long wanted to use the font American Typewriter for a logo, and this project seemed the perfect opportunity to use this font.

While Word Count Journal is an online journaling application, I wanted to bring in the ideas of analog journaling — the pencil icon and typewriter fonts — as these recognizable elements help convey the idea quickly.

You'll note that the letters have been pretty tightly kerned, especially 'Journal' which I snugged so tightly that the 'u' and 'r' have merged into a ligature, and the 'n' and 'l' have been customized to allow for a close fit.

The pencil icon was kept intentionally simple, and also snugged into the space above the curl of the 'J' in Journal, keeping in the style of the overall "cozy" theme of the type treatment. Placement of the 'Word Count' text was a tough call — I wanted it centered in the space above 'Journal' initially, but decided to align the 't' of 'Count' on the right edge of the 'a' in Journal.

You wouldn't think so much goes into kerning of a few words, but I feel this little extra effort pays off in a more flowing identity.

Word Count Journal Site Design
Based on the logo, I assisted Alex in developing the initial direction of the site design, which he and the team completely fleshed out and built. I really like the cooler aqua blue and grays, combined with warm orange and bright yellow, and the use of American Typewriter throughout the site. Alex and the team did a great job keeping the structure simple, yet super-functional and beautiful.

If you'd like a space where you write a little each day, check out Word Count Journal!

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December 11, 2006

Makalu Christmas Card Design Process

Last Friday my batch of MakaluMedia Christmas cards for 2006 arrived from PrintingForLess.com and I couldn't be more pleased. The quality of the paper and printing are excellent, and I think the design turned out quite well.

Here's a photo of the cover of the card:

You may recall mention of my inspiration for the snowflake design in late November, this is how it was used on the cover of the card design. In this article, I'll explain details of the design and printing process, implementing the snowflake design.

I chose the smaller card size of 4.25" x 5.5" folded — it's not too large and not too small. It's quite reasonable to print a smaller quantity in 4 color, since the size is not too large, and since envelopes are a standard size in the US.

Cover Design Notes
On the cover design, the high-res background was created in Photoshop from the same snowflake design, applying a glow of lighter blue over the darker blue background. The dark texture provides a canvas for the card's cover, while at the same time being subtle enough to not fight with the white snowflake overlay.

In Adobe Illustrator, I created the card document, then placed the Photoshop-generated background on the base layer, followed by the light blue glow and sandwiched on top by the white snowflake emblem and "Merry Christmas" text. The back cover also featured the company logo and locations.

Here's the card cover design (click for larger version):

Interior Design Notes
I wanted to carry the theme to the inside of the card, but also leave room for writing personal notes to clients and colleagues. On the left you can see the large, light gray "ghosted" snowflake design, which crosses the fold onto the right inner panel. It's dark enough to see yet light enough to write over.

On the right, the snowflake appears once again, smaller and in the same bright blue color as the glow and Makalu logo on the cover. Below the snowflake, a simple greeting in dark blue.

Here's the card interior design (click for larger version):

Printing Notes
Because the file was created in Adobe Illustrator as vector artwork, with a placed Photoshop background, my prep for printing was relatively painless. I checked all of my colors, and made sure the page sizes and bleeds for the art were correct.

Next, I converted the text on the cover and interior to outlines with Illustrator. Converting text to outlines is a feature that converts fonts into vector artwork on your document. This ensures your fonts, sizing, positioning are maintained, while eliminating the need to make sure the printer has the same fonts on hand.

Finally, I uploaded the file with my order specifications at PrintingForLess.com and let them handle the rest. A day later I had a PDF proof of the art, then approved the production and shipping. With this project I chose a medium weight card stock, and added an aqueous coating over the entire cover to help protect the heavy ink coverage and add a nice shine.

PrintingForLess handled printing, cutting and folding, then shrink wrapped the cards and paired them with matching white envelopes. PFL even split the order and shipped a portion directly to our main Makalu office in Darmstadt, Germany and the remainder to me in my Milwaukee office.

Conclusion
Overall, the design was a fun one, from concept to completion. I'm very pleased with the final product, due in large part to the quality work by PrintingForLess.com, and their wonderful customer service.

I hope I've provided some insight into the process of designing and creating a 4-color card for printing, especially for those readers who may not have direct contact with design and printing processes.

Order Free Samples — Check out the quality of PrintingForLess by requesting a free sample pack, including multiple printed samples on various paper stocks.

Technorati Tags: design, snowflake, christmas, printing, inspiration

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November 29, 2006

Snowflake Symbol Design Inspiration

This week I've enjoyed the process of designing our 2006 MakaluMedia Christmas cards, being especially pleased with how quickly the design has moved from inspiration to completion.

This year's idea focuses on a snowflake theme in blue. Can you make out what the snowflake has been built from?

It's created from the circular outer arms of the MakaluMedia logomark. Check out the Makalu logomark, below the snowflake.

While at Caribou Coffee last week, I noticed all of the snowflakes on their printed materials, which inspired me to build a snowflake from bits of our company logo.

The Process
Here's how I formed the snowflake design with parts of our MakaluMedia logo.

Using an outer arm, I spun it around a central point, resizing the arm and exploring different placements of arm: with the ball end of the arm at the center and also at the edges of the snowflake.

As I worked, a star shape emerged at the center, so I removed some artifacts, to further emphasize the star shape.

Finally, I reversed a circle out of the snowflake's center star and placed MakaluMedia dual Ms in the middle of the circle to complete the snowflake design.

You never know where inspiration may come from — be ready to capture it!

Technorati Tags: design, snowflake, christmas, inspiration

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November 20, 2006

Graphic & Interactive Design: Five Observations

Last week I came across a challenging critique of traditional graphic design, The Thin PMS185 Line by Andy Rutledge. In the piece, Andy focuses on what he sees as misguided practices and destructive ideals in the graphic design community.

Here's an excerpt:

There is a difference between art and design; the same distinction that describes the difference between doing something notable and doing something useful. It has long been my perception that too many traditional graphic designers don’t understand and don’t care to understand these distinctions. And I continue to see evidence to support this impression as graphic designers struggle to approach and embrace business and the Web.
And I do mean struggle. In her column in Communication Arts magazine issue 331 (in late 2004), DK Holland quoted that year’s AIGA National Conference organizer Terry Irwin as saying, “There is still a fairly big old guard [in AIGA] that wants to practice design as a primarily decorative, artistic practice in a market dominated by the ‘celebrity designer.’” How unfortunate that this “old guard” doesn’t understand that decoration and art are not design. And what’s with this preoccupation with celebrity?

What’s more unfortunate is that AIGA’s old guard is a product of a misguided organizational and educational culture that clearly still exists, largely unaltered. I say clearly because that ill-conceived approach to design is still common today, to the detriment of all members of the now disparate design communities.

Since I've spent time in both graphic design and interactive design, I'd like to share some observations on one aspect of Andy's article — why some traditional graphic designers may have difficulty embracing interactive design.

Through these observations, I hope to provide some understanding for interactive designers while encouraging traditional designers to embrace the web.

A Little History
First, a little about my background. I spent my first eight years as a traditional graphic designer, working on print projects, corporate identity, annual reports, packaging, and a bit of web design at the end of those eight years. In 1998, I took a leap into interactive design, while maintaining my interests in corporate identity and other traditional design services. Read more about this in My Unusual Work Life.

I love both interactive and print design. I embrace technology and the web but still love the tactile experience of sketching on paper. I'm not a pure graphic designer nor a pure interactive designer — I'm a blended designer who loves to design, solve problems and make useful things.

So, here are five thoughts on why it may be difficult for traditional graphic designers to embrace interactive design:

1. Substantial vs. Ephemeral — Interactive design to a traditional graphic designer who focuses on print, could be seen as less substantial than a print piece, since interactive design lives in such an ephemeral space — the web, or a computer. Because pixels and software are so changeable and variable, a traditional graphic designer may feel a website is less significant than a solid, physical, printed object.

I believe interactive and traditional design are both important in the right context. Both types of design are especially powerful when used together in creative ways.

2. Fear of the Unknown — A traditional graphic designer who hasn't embraced the web, or hasn't spent time considering the opportunities as well as the limitations of interactive design, may fear what they don't fully understand. Rather than exploring interactive design, XHTML/CSS and Web Standards, a traditional graphic designer might take the view that interactive design is something best left to the computer geeks. Each type of design has a part to play in a greater whole, with the ability to strengthen and compliment the other.

I believe traditional designers should be aware of how interactive design works, so they can understand the limitations and benefits of this powerful medium.

3. Interactive Design as Production Art — Production artists in traditional graphic design operate on a very technical, scientific level, while graphic designers are the creative ones who dream up the ideas. Because interactive design has a strong element of technical details and code, some traditional graphic designers might consider interactive design a kind of web-based production art.

In my experience, effective, creative and artful execution of a great idea is just as important as the great idea itself.

4. Static vs. Dynamic — Interactive design adds another dimension to design — interactivity. Traditional graphic designers are used to producing great looking, static pieces in print which are delivered to the end user for review, filing or tossing away. The idea of a design project which looks a bit different to every user can be a challenge for a control-hungry designer. A design project with daily interaction, that offers feedback from its users on design decisions is a pretty big paradigm shift from the way traditional print graphic design projects work.

Interactive design is different type of design challenge. It demands a different way of thinking, and a willingness to approach the medium on its own terms.

5. Frozen vs. Living — Another fundamental difference between print and interactive design: print design projects have definite life spans that are eventually "frozen" in ink, while, an interactive project may continue living on, with updates and improvements over a long period of time. A typo on a print project means a serious, expensive problem, while the same typo on an interactive project, means a few moments spent correcting the error.

A traditional designer may be challenged by living projects, while an interactive designer may be challenged by projects with definite life spans that freeze once the ink is dry. Again, each is a different type of challenge requiring thinking that's in context with the project.

An Encouragement to Traditional Graphic Designers
I've faced some of these issues as I've opened my mind to interactive design these past eight years. At times it's been tough. Admitting I don't know something and starting from zero isn't easy — it's hard work that requires a degree of humility.

I've found that embracing interactive design has provided a broader perspective and understanding. This continual embrace of the web keeps me growing and learning, improving my design thinking and problem solving.

So if you're a traditional graphic designer — embrace the web and interactive design! Be willing to start from scratch, to learn something new and dynamic. Find joy in applying your traditional design knowledge in a new medium, while accepting that medium on its own terms.

With so many excellent books, resources, tools and other helpful designers available too you right now, it's a great time to step out and learn interactive design. It may come slowly, and it will take effort, but it's worth it.

Update 2006-11-22 — Andrew Faulkner at Fadtastic has an excellent interview with Matt Davies, a UK designer at Attitude Design and Defacto Design. In the interview Matt discusses various topics, including the differences between design for print and the web, and the process of embracing web design. Good stuff!

Related Links:
What About Print? and To the Print Designers by Joshua Jeffryes

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October 26, 2006

CGI Interactive Logo Design

Last year, after Paul Bradley came across Ian Landsman's Creating a Business Logo article, he asked if we could design a new logo for his company, cgi Interactive. One of my passions as design director at MakaluMedia is logo design and corporate identity, so I was excited to take on the project.

Paul's firm. cgi Interactive, is a software development company based in the North West of England, who develop custom web based applications for businesses. The CGI moniker had its touch-point in the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programming done for clients in the early days of the Internet.

Paul wanted to maintain a connection to the past by keeping the CGI name, while coming up with a strong, clean logo to represent his company, on both the web and with other print materials (letterhead, envelopes and business cards).

Questions & Research
I started as I always do: asking questions of Paul about his company, goals, taste and thinking and doing my own gathering of information about the company. While it might seem trivial, the information gathering phase is critical — these are the words I ponder, as I prepare to sketch logo concepts that capture the company in a simple, iconic form.

From my initial research, it seemed the logomark should be simple and clean, yet still have a bit of a human touch, as Paul mentioned a history of "bespoke" or custom software development.

Sketching Ideas
As I sketched ideas out, I began focusing on a mark made of the letters C, G and I — using them to form a compact object.

Rounded letter-forms turned into squared letter-forms. I liked the idea of the C wrapping itself around the I to form a "G" at the intersection. To reinforce the "I" character, I used a lower cased variation to take advantage of the dot.

Black & White Explorations
We both liked this direction, so my next step was to jump into Adobe Illustrator and create the letters in black and white vector form, where I could explore the relationships of the C, G and i elements:

Notice how the horizontal stroke of the "i" character extends into the counter of the capital C character, to form a G. Then, the dot of the i character fills out the upper right corner of the mark. I like creating logos in black and white first — to assure they work well in their simplest form.

The mark also created an unintentional, yet nice side effect — notice the appearance of of a person on the right, extending an arm into the C, with the dot of the "i" acting as the head? What a nice coincidence!

Color Explorations
Next up was the color phase, which was quite straightforward, as Paul knew he wanted cool blues and greens used. I explored some complimentary warm colors with the mark, but we kept coming back to a combination of dark sea green and a sky blue to capture a solid, professional feel:

Notice also the font used is a Myriad/Gill Sans blend with a little custom tweaking done on the letters. The "cgi" text was kept in the sky blue, and "Interactive" stayed in the dark sea green, corresponding to the colors chosen for the mark.

Paul was very pleased with the final logo design. He felt it captured the professional look he wanted to portray, yet still maintained a human touch, to represent the custom, collaborative projects cgi Interactive does. I had fun working on the logo design, facing the challenge and seeing a unique mark emerge from the letters themselves.

Since designing Paul's logo in 2005, we've had many interesting and challenging logo projects come from new and existing clients, keeping me happily busy doing what I love — logo design.

If you like this approach to logo design, and need logo or corporate identity design work, just drop me a line and let's talk! :-)

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September 18, 2006

Mike Rohde's Design Sketch Kit

Last week I was talking with Makalu design colleague Alex Bendiken about tools I use for my logo, icon, web and print design sketch work. Lately he's been using sketches to quickly put multiple design ideas on paper — before moving to the computer.

As I described my sketch kit to Alex, I thought it'd be great to share a photo and the details on Flickr and in a post on my weblog. Turns out that my Custom Moleskine Planner photo with added notes has been very popular, so I took several shots of my sketch kit and placed them on Flickr, and in this very post:

The tools include:

1. Miquelrius A5 squared notebook (300 pages)
2. HiG A4 squared notebook (96 pages)
3. Faber-Castell E-Motion 1.4mm mechanical pencil (a gift from Fazal Majid)
4. Y&C Grip 350 0.7mm mechanical pencil
5. Gray kneadable eraser
6. Artec 6" acrylic triangle
7. Pickett Inking circle template

Notebooks
The larger HiG A4 notebook is better for web and print design where the sketches may need more space, the Miquelrius A5 is smaller and more portable, and my preferred choice for logo and icon design. I especially love how flexible the Miquelrius is, allowing me to fold the covers over for sketching or scanning.

Pencils
I mainly use the Faber-Castell E-Motion for most sketches because the thick lead lays down a nice, smooth line, can put rich grays down quickly and resists breaking even when I press quite hard. The Y&C 0.7mm pencil works well for finer lines and details (more often used on web and print design comps that require fine details or handwritten descriptions.)

Support Tools
The Artec 6" acrylic triangle works well for putting down a crisp edge, and lets me see through it to the sketch underneath — handy for laying in text. My kneadable eraser is indispensable for cleaning up loose edges and stray marks (and works well for stress relief when needed). The Pickett circle guide comes in handy for quick, perfect circles, most often used on web and print design projects.

It's a simple toolkit, which works quite well... and it never needs batteries! :-)

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August 25, 2006

Artist Series Videos on Legendary Graphic Designers

Yesterday, my friend and design colleague, Alex Bendiken, shared a video of Paula Scher he saw from the post Picasso, Paula Scher, and the lifetime behind every second on the Signal vs. Noise blog.

In fact, upon visiting Hillman Curtis' video section to see Paula's video, I found several other short video documentaries with graphic design greats, and watched all of them in a single sitting.

The collection includes videos of Paula Scher, Milton Glaser, Stefan Sagmeister, David Carson, James Victore and the Pentagram Design Group.

What a wonderful collection of inspirational videos!

I especially enjoyed the video of David Carson, one of the brash, rebelious designers I followed when I started my professional design career in 1989. Carson had this wild, interpretive design which featured typography pushed into completely new directions. It was Carson who inspired me to push my typography a little farther — check out his video to see the wild designs he's come up with over the years.

Thanks Adobe and Hillman Curtis for creating the Artist Series films — please keep them coming! I'd love to see more interviews of great designers, including Neville Brody, Rudy van der Lans, Charles S. Anderson, Joe Duffy, Jonathan Ive, and the many other design leaders, while they're still alive!

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July 6, 2006

StreamerNet Icon Redesign

About a month ago, my good buddy Michael Ashby came to me with an icon redesign project for the startup company called StreamerNet.

StreamerNet provides individuals and businesses with a variety of very powerful portable streaming services and an application for the PC called StreamerNet Mobile Video Producer. Both their application and services make heavy use of advanced Windows Media features.

StreamerNet wanted to have their original "galaxy" of icons redesigned, with a smoother, more sophisticated and more consistent icon style across the suite. There were also a few changes needed and one new icon to create.

Here are the original icons:

One of my main goals was to clean up the icons and simplify them as much as possible. The icons above have quite a bit of detail in them, though so small that much of it was getting lost, and not clearly suggesting the purpose behind each icon.

I began with the Video Email icon first, establishing a style with sketches, then producing a final icon for approval by the client. StreamerNet liked the first icon's style and look, so I continued on the other icons.

Because of a tight timeframe, I did sketches for my own concepting, heading directly to final art in Fireworks once I was satisfied with the concepts. There were of course a few tweaks to make on the final art, though not very many.

Here are the final icons:

As you can see, the new icons are a little bit larger, and more consistent in style than the originals, while being a little simpler and clearer. I think the added depth of the new icons also helps them pop off of the screen a bit better than the originals.

The icons are now in use on the Solutions page, as well on the headers for each sub-page linked to the icons, and will most likely be used in the StreamerNet Mobile Video Producer application.

I'm very pleased with the final icons. I think they help tell the story of StreamerNet in an attractive, consistent way, while maintaining and clarifying the original concept.

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June 22, 2006

Designing the HoudahSpot Icon

Back in February, I came in contact with Pierre Bernard, a Mac OS X developer in need of an icon design for his search tool, HoudahSpot. Pierre's search tool is really an alternate front-end to the Spotlight engine, offering features such as live queries, manipulations of files within search results and an easy to use interface for searching with complex criteria.

Concepting
Pierre had ideas in mind for the his icon — his signature elephant, a set of binoculars, and sheets of paper. I was selected to offer alternate ideas, refinements and provide design guidance in bringing this icon to life. After some initial questioning about the application and Pierre's idea, I began as I always do, with pencil sketches in my Miquelrius notebook.

Sketches, Round 1
I felt there needed to be something tying the loose papers, binoculars and the elephant icon together, when I realized that if you were on safari, you would carry papers in a binder.

So, with this idea in mind, I sketched out a a heavy duty leather binder with the Houdah elephant icon embossed on the cover, and binoculars laying on top of the binder. Pages would be coming out at odd angles to suggest chaos often present on a user's machine. I also included a small compass to complete the image.

Sketches, Round 2
Pierre and I both quite liked the binder concept from the first round, and wanted to refine the idea a little bit more. I sketched out a second round of pencils, exploring variations on sketch 5 and a runner up, to make sure we were going along the right track.

On this set, I moved the binoculars down and right on the binder cover to reveal more of the Houdah elephant character, removed the compass, which felt unnecessary. I then rounded the leather binder's corners and refined the paper positioning to be a little less chaotic. This second round sketch looked quite nice, with pretty good balance and proportions.

Sketches, Round 3
Pierre had one more experiment to try before settling on the concept — sliding the binoculars off of the right edge of the leather binder, to reveal the entire Houdah elephant character. I created an abbreviated 3rd sketch exploring this idea, though immediately Pierre and I felt it threw the balance of the icon off. The binoculars on an angle, laying on top of the binder were better.

Color Comps v1-3
Next up, , move ahead to the Mac, and start building the icon in Fireworks. First, I began in icon 1 with the binder, as I felt this element would hold the icon together. Using a photograph of leather, I modified it in Photoshop and Fireworks as the base texture, adding shade, reflections and seams. You can see I also began exploring documents inside of the binder. In icon 2, the binoculars were built using reference from Leica binoculars. In icon 3, I move to defining the documents in the binder in more detail, widened the binder and corrected the angle and skew of the binoculars.

Final Icons
Next, I brought the final icons from Fireworks into Photoshop, for final tweaks and export to .icns files which Pierre could bundle into HoudahSpot. Pierre wanted to remove the highlight on the left edge of the binder, and other small tweaks I found were made to the icon before final export.

I used the binoculars art from the master application icon file to create a complimentary document icon, using the leather binder texture on the top edge of the document to carry over the look and feel of the main icon to the document icon.

Conclusion
Pierre and I are both very pleased with the final application and document icons. They're warm and inviting, capturing the idea of HoudahSpot well. Yoram Blumberg, a German designer liked the icon quite a bit:

When I stumbled upon HoudahSpot at MacZOT.com my first thought was: «I really love that catchy icon, I don’t care what the app is for — I wanna add that icon to my dock!»

Thanks Yoram! :-)

Special thanks go to Pierre Bernard for choosing to work with me and MakaluMedia on this icon. His help and collaboration through the entire project made the HoudahSpot icon a pleasure to create.

I hope my description of my icon design process is interesting and helpful, especially for developers who are curious what goes into the development of an application and document icon. If you need an icon designed, drop me a line.

If you're interested in exploring an alternative approach to search on your Mac with the power of Spotlight under the hood, give HoudaSpot a try.

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May 30, 2006

Congratulations to Alex Bendiken, Slashdot Redesign Winner!

I'm happy to congratulate my work colleague, Alex Bendiken, for his success in winning the Slashdot Redesign contest. Alex spent 48 hours straight, working on his initial entry and made it through 200+ entries to land in the top 3. Yesterday, Slashdot announced the winner — Alex! Here's Alex's official acceptance blog post.

I think Alex's "re-alignment" of Slashdot makes sense, because it captures the spirit of the original design, and color scheme, while improving on the flow, placement and function, as well as the visual design.

Congratulations are in order for Alex, along with that sweet, fully-loaded 17" MacBook Pro he receives for his hard work. Nice work!

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May 26, 2006

Sketching = Getting Real

This week I came across Getting Real: An interview with Jason Fried, an intriguing article and interview by Khoi Vinh, NYTimes.com Design Director, blogger at Subtraction.com and founder of the design studio, Behavior.

In the interview, Khoi asks Jason Fried of 37signals questions about Getting Real, a process which involves small teams, agile development, and lots of iterations.

Mid-way through the interview I found this wonderful quote from Jason:

We also sketch on paper a lot — much more than we go into a program like Photoshop. Paper is fast, cheap, and low resolution enough to get ideas out without having to worry about the details too early on. Worrying about details too early can kill you, and paper helps you skip the details.
In Photoshop you worry too much about pixels and alignment and colors. On paper you can get rough ideas out quickly without worrying about all the stuff that just doesn't matter yet.

Like Jason, I'm a strong an advocate of using pen or pencil and paper sketches to think visually. I find sketching encourages me to explore more ideas more quickly and helps me resist the rigidity and limitations of the computer and software.

Putting pencil or pen to paper separates me from the distractions and ruts I sometimes get into on the Mac. Because it's physical, I find it relaxing, which I believe results in better design solutions.

Give it a try! Go forth, sketch and get real!

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May 12, 2006

MakaluMedia Corporate Identity Portfolio

Since the end of 2004, I've been actively pursuing corporate identity design through the company I work for, MakaluMedia.

The first in a long line of logos was created for Ian Landsman, his firm UserScape and his first product, HelpSpot. In fact, Ian wrote the post Creating a Business Logo back in January 2005, describing the logo design experience from his perspective.

Since the that first web 2.0 logo project, and having been featured in Bob Walsh's Micro-ISV book, I've been receiving many requests to help companies and individuals design their corporate identities. It's been wonderful helping create clean, clear and effective logos for each one of our clients.

Last week I realized we had no central page on the MakaluMedia site, where logo or related information could be viewed. This week I've created a new page where you can view a select collection of logos case studies:

MakaluMedia Group Design Portfolio: Corporate Identity

The portfolio explains why Makalu's logo design process is different, along with 4 case studies and images of completed logos. My goal is to continually expand this portfolio page, making it a handy reference for anyone seeking to learn more about our logo design services before they hire us.

I still intend on going in in depth on the design process for logos I create on the Rohdesign Weblog, as I've done for the Outer Level and LiquidFitness logos. I enjoy sharing my thought process and more detailed sketches here in the weblog. From the comments I've received, readers enjoy it as well.

I'm hoping the two pages will compliment each other nicely, with the MakaluMedia Corporate Identity page providing the overview of each logo design, while the weblog can offer richer details, sketches and the thinking behind each design.

Technorati Tags: corporate identity, design, logo, portfolio, web 2.0

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April 15, 2006

Jason Santa Maria & Greg Storey on The Web 2.0 Show

One of my favorite podcasts is The Web 2.0 Show, a podcast about the "new" web with Josh Owens and Chris Saylor of Steel Pixel. The interview This week they've posted Episode 16, an excellent interview from SXSW with designers Jason Santa Maria and Greg Storey (Airbag).

In the interview (which begins at the 15:00 mark) the guys speak with Jason and Greg about their backgrounds as freelance graphic and web designers. They talk about working on projects as freelancers and why they went freelance, their process of working, inspiration, working remotely vs. face-to-face as part of teams, the challenges of working from home and more.

It's an excellent podcast to listen to for designers who want to learn more, or for those interested in how these two designers work and think. Be sure to check in the archives, as The Web 2.0 Show has interviewed many other interesting personalities worth hearing.

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March 11, 2006

Designing the endo icon

I'm very excited reveal my latest new icon design for endo, a syndicated feed reader developed by Adriaan Tijsseling. This new app approaches syndicated feeds as "streams" rather than the common "email app" approach most aggregators use.

The icon was developed in collaboration with Adriaan, the developer of blogging tool ecto and Flickr stream manager 1001, which I'd designed the icon for last year. While we worked out the new icon, I'd been under an NDA with Adriaan (as design director at MakaluMedia) but since endo has been released, I'm free to share. :-)

(Click on graphics below to see full sketches)

Initial Concepts v1
I began the project by writing out thoughts and sketching some initial ideas, and having designed the 1001 icon, felt that the icons might benefit from having a "family" feeling between them. So, when you look at the initial v1 sketches I did, you can see this quite clearly.

While the final icon veered quite a bit from the initial sketches, I like to point out that very often a designer must work through what is in their heads in order to progress to the next step — a bit like flushing out the immediate ideas to get at the deeper ideas.

Sketches v2
In the second round of sketches, I began exploring the idea of different shapes, shapes breaking planes and swirls of data surrounding shapes. As endo was to be different than other aggregator/readers because it treats feeds as "streams" I wanted to convey the idea of a stream of data — as chaotic swirl or plane.

While breaking a plane was an interesting concept, the more chaotic swirl appealed to both Adriaan and me, because it felt much more like the real net, with wild streams of feeds spinning out of control. Endo was to be the calm in the midst of this storm of data; helping its users wade through this swirling cloud.

Sketches v3
In my 3rd revision of sketches, I focused entirely on the idea of a swirling cloud of data, surrounding various shapes. You can see in the larger sketch that circular swirl with a central "hub" containing a magnifying glass at the center of the swirl. This represented the application at the center, filtering good signal from the noise. These concepts were attractive to both Adriaan and I, though we both wanted to see one more round to finalize the concept before I went to Fireworks and Photoshop on the Mac.

Sketches v4
In this round, Adriaan had the idea to include the newly standardized Feed Icon, which is already used in Firefox (and will also be used in IE7), so I tried several icons with the Feed icon integrated. I tried a variety of angles, until in sketch E you can see the idea of having the feed icon appear in the central hub and also appear in the shadow below, since the central hub would be transparent (like a marble).

Once Adriaan and I saw sketch E, we were both in love. Adriaan gave the Ok to move to the Mac, and there, the new endo icon was born, using Fireworks to build the icon (with vectors and layers) and then exported in Photoshop, using the excellent IconBuilder 8 from IconFactory.

Only minor tweaks were needed to finalize the icon on the Mac and deliver the needed icon, and source files Adriaan needed to spruce up his endo application and the new Kula website.

Conclusion
I'm very pleased with the new endo icon; it's simple, different and I think conveys the concept of a feed aggregator sifting signal out of the syndication noise — just the idea Adriaan was trying to convey with his very different application. One commenter on the BWANA Weblog suggested the endo icon "has the best application icon since Shiira." which was flattering indeed. :-)

Thanks Adriaan for trusting in me to help on this project and all of his excellent collaboration. Working on this project was truly a pleasure!

If you're on Mac OS X and want a alternate way of deal with feeds, try out endo. It offers a very different approach, which may just suit your needs.

Technorati Tags:
mikerohde, rohdesign, sketches, visual+thinking, design, makalumedia, drawings, icon

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March 2, 2006

Leica Camera Marker Renderings

Years ago, when I was in my last year as a graphic design student at MATC, I had the opportunity to prepare a presentation for my Design II class. The assignment was quite simple: choose a topic which interests you and prepare a 15 minute presentation, which you will design, prepare the art for, and read to the class.

At the time I was fascinated by antique cameras, having bought a few twin lens reflexes, bellows cameras and even an Argus 35mm box camera built like a tank. But most of all I was intrigued by the Leica and German optician Oskar Barnack who in 1913 had the crazy idea of using 35mm movie film to build a portable still camera. Naturally, Leica cameras and their history were my topic of choice.

In the end, I decided to tell the story of Oskar and his Leica with marker and pencil renderings. In the late 90s we still did renderings, as computers hadn't permeated the schools sufficiently enough to be available to us all for comps and such. Besides, I quite enjoyed creating marker renderings, and in this case, I wanted to try rendering on warm gray boards, using more pencil than usual for a unique effect.

I did my research, wrote a script, rendered around 15 panels and shot 35mm slide film of each one. Then, I recorded myself reading the script, timed out with the slides I'd created and presented it to my class in a darkened room. The presentation went very well.

Just a few weeks ago, I came across several of those marker renderings while preparing to speak to design students at MATC about portfolios. I happen to still have, intact, the very portfolio I graduated and got my first job with. I thought it'd be fun to show the students my old portfolio and talk about some of the presentation techniques.

Fast forward to speech day. I happened to peek in one of the pockets as I spoke to the students, and there were 4 of the 15 marker rendering boards! The students loved seeing this kind of work, and I had the idea of scanning the pieces to show here on the weblog.

The images you see throughout the text are the 4 marker and pencil renderings from that presentation. If you click on each small image a larger image will open, so you can see the renderings in a bit more detail.

It was both challenging and fun to work with a mid-toned gray board like this, as I could use the mid tone to build upon; first the shadows and colors, then highlights of white and grays for the metallic surfaces. Finally, dark gray and black highlights for edges and shadows.

I'm still not sure where the rest of the renderings are, nor where the slides I'd shot of the full set have gone. I may just have to do some digging to see if the rest can be found, so I can turn it into a full slideshow. Still, even with just these 4 it's fun to look back at a project from college and recall the good 'ol days. :-)

Technorati Tags: drawings, sketches, design, camera, optics, mikerohde, rohdesign

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January 30, 2006

My First Book Appearance: Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality

Today I received a wonderful gift from the UPS delivery-man: a crisp edged, brand-spankin' new copy of Bob Walsh's Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality softcover book. Why is it so special? Well, it's the first book in which I've been featured as an interviewee! (see pp 58-59)

Bob emailed me last summer, asking if I'd be willing to offer quotes on logo and graphic design for his new book, to which I heartily agreed. After all, I'd been collaborating with Ian Landsman and several other micro-ISV owners on logo and web design work, so it only made sense to share that experience with Bob and other Micro-ISV owners. (Micro-ISV stands for micro-Independent Software Vendor; in other words a small software developer, often one person.)

Bob called a few days later to ask his questions and discuss the details. We had a great phone conversation, which eventually turned into a post on his ToDoOrElse weblog, as Micro-ISV Tip #6: Visual Integrity.

Here's a snippet from the article, which ended up in the book as well:

Q. Why should a micro-ISV get a professional in to do their logo?
A. There are certainly ways of doing it yourself, or buying an off-the-shelf stock logo for fifty bucks, with exclusive rights in the 200 dollar range. Problem is, if you have a very specific company and you're looking to portray what your company stands for, you're already adapting to an existing logo that may not fit what you do. You're already starting off with a compromise.

It’s subtle, but because it’s important to get the idea of your company or product across quickly and fully. Any confusion or lack of clarity can delay the first good impression. Design is becoming more and more critical for businesses, particularly on the Internet where you see the identity long before connecting with a person.

In a nutshell, you should hire a design professional because is it’s not your specialty. If you're a micro-ISV, you're always trying to be very effective with your limited time and energy. By doing it yourself you may actually spend more time and energy than you want and yet may not be happy with the end results.

All those months ago, I hadn't considered the reality of my words and name being captured in print. I'm quite used to seeing my words appear online — on my own blog and even on other websites — but there is something special about appearing in print. it's so... permanent.

Many thanks to Ian Landsman, and his UserScape and HelpSpot logo blog post which opened which the door for this opportunity, and to Bob Walsh for giving me the opportunity to contribute. I hope my words help many more Micro-ISVs out there establish businesses with great design as one of the pillars of their success.

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January 17, 2006

Outer Level Logo Design

I thoroughly enjoy logo design work, so when MakaluMedia clients talk about their experience in the logo design process I'm always interested. Just yesterday, Jon Trainer of Outer Level, posted a detailed article describing his experiences of collaborating on a logo design with me. Jon develops applications, including the game Bullfrog and the utility License Keeper for Mac OS as well as software development consulting.

I thought it would be interesting to quote some of Jon's post here and provide my own thoughts.

Keywords and Goals:

Thankfully, this is where Mike comes in. Something I didn’t think about prior to hiring Mike, but would recommend to anyone looking for a graphic designer, is that you look for someone who can “consult” with you on your image. Instead of just asking what I wanted my logo to look like, Mike sent a short list of questions to solidify his feel for my tastes, personality, and desired company image.

One thing I've found helpful is to describe goals you're shooting for when designing a logo. What kinds of feelings should it evoke in a viewer? Should it convey strength, warmth, honesty? While these might seem to be nebulous words, I think setting goals in words helps clients and myself get focus before the sketch process even begins.

Dead End Ideas:

A little over a week later, Mike sent me two full pages of pencil sketches incorporating my descriptors and his own feelings from the Outer Level name. Some of his ideas reflected ones I have had in mind for years — probably the more obvious and common images that Outer Level brings to mind. These are precisely the ones I didn’t want. I was looking to avoid the common and the obvious. Also in the sketches were some ideas that immediately captured my imagination.

Lately I've found it good to go down the 'obvious' paths to prove that the idea either has some potential — or that it's a complete dead end.

Leaving 'dead end' ideas right in my sketches, while clearly explaining why they are dead ends to my clients helps cleanse the dead end idea out of the system, allowing me to try other areas of exploration and 'let go" of the dead end idea.

There is of course, a risk a client will like a dead end idea. However, because I always provide comprehensive explanations with my sketches, I've found clients trust my judgement when I call out a dead end.

Client Collaboration

There were many bits in these sketches that I really liked. So I sent back my comments along with my own sketches because I tend to think better in pictures than in words.

When Jon sent me his sketches I was very excited to see him getting into the process so deeply! I'm a proponent of visual thinking, so seeing my sketches encourage a client to sketch was wonderful to see.

Color

To this point, the process had been quite fun, though challenging. I had no idea what was in store now that it was time for color. I envisioned blue, red, and even green as potential main colors and wasn’t surprised that I wasn’t alone in this train of thought.

Color is maybe the toughest part of the logo process in my opinion. Colors carry have emotional impact, which is why I like to leave color to the end of the process — this helps void choosing a logo based on the color rather than a great concept.

Unfortunately, once I saw these colors applied to the logo design they didn’t project the feel I was looking for. But, I really liked the warm red-orange sunrise-like background Mike had incorporated. So I searched out some photos of planets, nebulas, etc. and sent them to Mike as a sample of colors that appeared in space. Maybe, these would help change the feel of the logo.
As it turns out, these “space colors” lead us in the right direction.

It's rare to nail down final color selections on the first round because color is so complex. This is why it's so important to collaborate with clients. In this case, Jon sent some reference to give me an idea of his tastes, from which I was able to draw out some new options.

The entire process really is a back and forth; client feedback and my expertise, combined to arrive at a final logomark that's attractive, practical and pleases both the client and designer.

What intrigues me is how fun this process can be, particularly for clients. All of the clients who have collaborated in their own logo process have commented on how much they enjoyed it. Knowing clients get a logo they love and a process that's fun makes for a very satisfying experience for everyone.

If you need of a logo and are intrigued by this design process, drop me a line.

Technorati Tags: mikerohde, rohdesign, logo, design, makalumedia

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January 13, 2006

World-Wired: My Beyond MATC Article

At the very tail end of 2005, I happened to stop by my alma mater, Milwaukee Area Technical College to see instructors and friends. While there, I was introduced to the PR department (which is very near the place I used to work as a student). Somehow, I managed to get an invitation to be the topic of an article for a new online magazine at the MATC website, Beyond MATC.

In December, I received a call from Julie at MATC's PR department, where I shared stories and insights from my years as a design student, about my work now and remote working in general. It was a great discussion — touching on globalism, distributed teamwork, creativity, blogging and more. Unfortunately, much of our discussions had to be trimmed from the final article (seems like a great reason for an MATC PR Weblog).

This week, Sue, the MATC staff photographer stopped by to take a few photos to accompany the article, to complete the process. Sue and I had a great time on the shoot, with a side benefit that my office is all clean and tidy. ;-)

Today, I was notified by Julie that the article was online:

World-Wired: Mike Rohde Serves Global Clientele

Here's an excerpt:

You never know where on earth an MATC degree might lead. For 1989 Commercial Art (Graphic Design) graduate Mike Rohde, it led to colleagues and clients in Germany, Spain, France and Ireland. Rohde creates corporate logos, Web sites, Web applications and business blogs for firms around the world, working from his home office in Wauwatosa.
Privileged to be able to combine his passions for design, technology and new ways of working, he is, simply, an artist at heart. “I had always loved art and wanted to be an artist, but my dad warned me about ‘starving artists’ and how hard it could be for me to make a living,” he says. So Rohde came to MATC for a night class in photography, which led him to the Printing associate degree program.

That program required classes in commercial art, and from there he found his calling. “The other students in printing said, ‘What are you doing here? You should be an artist.’ One great thing about MATC is that you are required to be exposed to other areas. I got good cross training between printing, commercial art and photography.”

His cross training also included working as art director for two years at MATC’s student newspaper, The Times, and a part-time job in the college’s Design Centre as a student graphic artist.

On the article page you'll not only see a few shots of me in my office and kitchen, the photographer took a few shots of my sketchbook, some with a recent logo done for Panoramio and a shot of our kitty Jasmine playing around with my Faber-Castell pencil. Gotta love the cat photo!

BTW, it's funny to me that my Mac is not shown in the photo above, while the crusty old vanilla PC I use for testing websites is —someone might get the idea I'm a PC user or something! :-)

The entire experience was very positive, all the way from the phone discussion with Julie to the photo shoot with Sue. I'm very happy with the article. Thanks Julie, Sue and MATC for the opportunity!

Technorati Tags: mikerohde, rohdesign, milwaukee, design, college, makalumedia

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December 7, 2005

Coffee 2006: A Calendar for Coffee Lovers

I've just posted up a new Coffee calendar my wife and I worked on together and have prepared over at Cafe Press. Gail has been searching for coffee-themed calendars and just couldn't locate any in local stores or online — so she had the idea to create one instead. Hey, this is a make it yourself world, right? :-)

So, she setup a studio in the kitchen garden window and shot various coffee items from our own coffee collection with a Canon A20 digital camera. She had a blast shooting the images.

I took the black and white images, cropped and oriented them in Photoshop, and added some coffee-related descriptions on each image. Next, I shaded the edges, adjusting of the contrast, followed by the application of the Cutout filter to get the high contrast, posterized look I was aiming for. I think it turned out well.

Once the structure was working, I began colorizing each monthly image, starting with a warm red for January and working through the color range in a rainbow-like manner, to December. For the cover, I chose an image of our french press, slicing it into several pieces, then colorizing them to match the feel of the monthly images.

Finally, the images were all uploaded to Cafe Press into a calendar template that's printed on heavyweight, glossy stock. It's quite easy to manage products on the site, and what I like best, all of the transactions are handled for me.

So, if you're a coffee fan, or know someone who is, our Coffee 2006 Calendar could make the perfect gift. Stop by my Cafe Press store, have a look at the Coffee 2006 Calendar and pick one up today. :-)

Black and White Version
We've also created a black and white version for those who want something a little more subdued. Check it out at our Cafe Press store.

Technorati Tags: cafe, calendar, coffee, design, espresso, mikerohde, milwuakee

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November 9, 2005

Design Class Talk: What Would You Tell 'Em?

I just got off the phone with one of my former design instructors over at my alma mater, Milwaukee Area Technical College. In the next month or so I'm going to pay a visit to MATC and give a 1 hour talk and Q&A to design students approaching graduation next spring.

I have a pretty good idea of what I'd like to talk about, along the lines of Thoughts on the Design Industry I wrote last month: globalism, the designer glut, emphasis an on drawing and sketching, emphasis on being good communicators, writers and leaders. I also plan to share good design resources on the web in a handout: design blogs, podcasts and whatever tools I think might be useful or inspirational.

I thought it'd be interesting to throw this upcoming talk out as an opportunity for other designers and non-designers out there to suggest specific thoughts, topics, websites, blogs, or podcasts they felt could benefit these students in my talk.

If you were able to share an insight, truth, tip or resource — what would it be?

• Something you thought was important in school that didn't turn out to be so important

• A hard lesson learned as a designer or more generally from your business life

• A skill or technique you feel is important for design school students to learn

• General suggestions for students about to graduate from college

• Good books to read

• Good blogs to read

• Good Podcasts to listen to

• Anything else you feel could be relevant or helpful to these students

FYI, this is a 2-year technical college setting, so these students will likely have pretty good technical training, but could really use resources and tips from the other side of the equation: the arts and the theoretical side of things.

Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments area of this post.

Technorati Tags: creativity, design, graphics, milwuakee, webdesign

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October 15, 2005

Thoughts on the Design Industry

I've been focused on a theme lately regarding design and the state of the design world/business/community. It amazes me how different it has become since I began practicing it in the 1980s, but how in some ways it has remained the same. I thought I'd capture these thoughts here, for myself and for others in the design field.

Miquelrius My thinking has been spurred and impacted through reading Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat, listening to The Prepared Mind podcasts with Chris Gee, reading various design-oriented blogs, and reflections on my own career as a designer.

Globalization
One of the surprising books of the year for me has been The World is Flat, which I picked up as an audiobook from a free Audible card (scored at the Palmsource DevCon). I'm interested in globalization and how it might effect me, the world around me and especially my son, but wasn't prepared for its focus on design.

One of the examples midway through the book shared the challenges of an older designer who had to continuously re-invent himself to keep from becoming a “just another designer.” The entire book takes a broad view of how global the economy is becoming. It also challenges Americans to be ready to compete on a global basis. I feel fortunate to work within a global company with colleagues around the world — it's exposed me to a global way of thinking about design which I'd probably never have experienced in a local design firm.

I have this sense that graphic designers don't fully grasp just how global and commotodized design has become — there is a reason LogoWorks exists and does well! They're taking advantage of the global market for talent and the internet to make their business work. No longer do I have to compete with only other Milwaukee or US designers — competition now comes from Asia, Eastern Europe. It's coming from anyplace where design talent can reach the net.

What does this mean? I must strive to continually improve my work and process. I must seek to establish my design skills as being different. What I offer must be special compared to what other designers are offering or I just become one of the design masses.

What is my difference? I love to sketch concepts with a real pencil on real paper and share those sketches with customers. I enjoy working collaboratively with customers, and involve them in the process. I'm not afraid to defend my ideas or honestly tell a customer “that idea stinks” when I think it does. I strive to treat customers as friends and colleagues rather than “just another client”. I love blogging about the process any my thoughts on design.

If you're a designer, what are your stand out qualities that separate you from the rest?

The Designer Glut
While working today I listened to the latest Prepared Mind podcast, with Chris Gee and Von Glitschka, as they covered a range of design topics. Most interesting to me was the discussion of a glut of designers in the market right now, with so many schools churning out graduates year after year.

Worse yet, many of the students graduating from a college or university are poorly skilled and often completely unprepared for the profession they wish to join. When I graduated back in 1989 from technical school, I was one of the fortunate ones. I worked hard to land a part-time position as a student designer for the college I attended, while completing school. It was hard work to do this, but because of this position, I was able to do real projects, work with real clients and real budgets. By the time I graduated, my portfolio was well stocked and I had some practical preparation for working in a fast-paced design studio.

I've often looked back and wondered how the lives of students who didn't have this opportunity would have changed, had the curriculum included some kind of “real-world” lab where the studio environment was replicated. I hope something like this exists at my alma mater, and at larger design schools — but even so, trying to “recreate” a studio setting is still a simulation. It just cannot compare to the real deal.

How I as a practicing designer work to prepare students entering the field? I'm seriously considering visiting my old tech school and giving a guest lecture, just to tell students what they need to be ready for.

Career Reflection
What I value most from my years at Milwaukee Area Technical College were the challenges to think and develop creative solutions as a key to a project's success. When I came through the commercial art program, a majority of the teachers had real-world experience and a passion for design. I always enjoyed being challenged in lectures and critiques of our work. Our teachers were tough, but looking back, that's what improved me the most.

Because the school was a tech college, there were a fair share of students who came because they “could draw” or “didn't know what else to do” but there were also a group of students who really cranked hard to put out their best work. It wasn't hard to spot who the passionate designers were, and these were the ones who I know have become successful designers.

I feel fortunate to have come through when drawing was still at the core of the design work. I think because of this, I learned to express myself through sketching, one of the most freeing and flowing ways to work. One of my concerns about schooling now is a heavier emphasis on computer skills for designers. Of course these are important, but I know how tempting it is to get lost in the power of the machine, before really hammering out a great concept.

I hope that sketching and concepting are still emphasized at my school and other design schools. In my mind, design is all wrapped up in this initial concept phase — get it right and the project flows — skip it and risk a patched-together solution with no solid, cohesive reason for being. Skip the concept phase and you get a corpse with flashy makeup.

The Upshot
In a nutshell, the design world is changing. It has been changing immensely in just the past 5 to 10 years, and I often wonder if practicing designers really grasp the shift happening around them. It is so easy to focus on your latest cool whiz-bang design, the cool black or gray designer's outfit you're sporting, or the trendy office space you may work in.

The real question is, how do designers become leaders? How do we share our talents for making sense and beauty out of fuzzy, complex and difficult situations? How do we make our services key to the projects we're working on — not the window dressing, but the core?

These challenge me and excite me. If you're a designer, what do you think about these questions? Are you scared about the future or optimistic? Non-designers, what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Technorati Tags: creativity, design, graphics, logos, podcasts, sketches

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September 22, 2005

Liquid Fitness Logo Design

It's been a while since I've talked about logo design on the blog, so having just completed a very fun and satisfying logo design for Liquid Fitness, I thought I'd share the process.

Liquid Fitness LLC, is the personal swim training consultancy of Roberta Challener who has spent years coaching in swimming — from children and adults to members of the USA Swim Team. Roberta had read Ian Landsman's blog post on Creating a Business Logo, and inquired about logo design services at MakaluMedia. After a proposal and some email discussion, Roberta hired us for the project.

As with all logo projects, I began by sketching pen and pencil concepts in my trusty Miquelrius sketchbook. I ended up with two pages full of ideas, numbered them and forwarded the sketches to Roberta for her comments. Of the various sketches, one concept in particular stood out on both pages — that of a stylized swimmer:

Sketches-1

I liked the feeling of these sketches, though there was something bothersome about the single arm. stylistically, it works, but I felt I ought to try a version with an entire swimmer as well. So, I tried a few more ideas (this time in pencil) exploring the full upper bodied swimmer:

Sketch-2

Sketch-3

These seemed just right — and Roberta agreed with my thoughts in her comments. From these sketches I began drawing in Illustrator, turning the pencil concept into a stylized, black and white logomark:

In the end I opted for a flat look rather than the “liquid” look for the mark, as it would be clean and sleek, as well as not trying too hard to convey the liquid theme with 3D styling.

Next was the challenge of finding a typeface and type treatment to compliment the logo mark. I wanted to show emphasis with bold and regular fonts, so explored several font variations with Roberta. She especially liked the modern-looking font, Futura, so we had our font:

Bw-Logomark

Not how nicely the mark blends into the open spaces on top of the letter forms. I am always challenged with LLCs as they feel like add-ons to logos, so in this case I tucked the LLC in below the type, equally deep as the descender on the “q” of Liquid.

With the logo form settled on, we moved to color. I wanted to use cool blue and green colors for the mark, to help forward the idea of water, liquid and swimming. I created a set of color variations for Roberta, and she chose a two-toned blue as her favorite:

2C-Logomark

I liked this color version as well, as the dual blue tones seemed to add a bit of depth. The lighter blue helps equalize the bolder 'Liquid' part of the logotype and downplays the LLC as well, without letting it get lost in the shuffle.

Overall I was very pleased with the process and how well the logo turned out. Working with Roberta was great fun — she always knew what she wanted, which helped in decision making especially. I think Roberta was equally pleased with the logo, which always makes me feel great about a project.

I'll try to be a bit more regular about showcasing logo work from MakaluMedia here, along with descriptions of the process — apparently these are popular with readers and those exploring logo work. And of course, should you need corporate identity services, drop me a line!

Technorati Tags: design, graphics, logos, sketches, swimming

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September 13, 2005

HelpSpot Goes Beta

UserScape Ian Landsman, a MakaluMedia client, friend and all around good guy, has just released a beta of his web-based helpdesk app, HelpSpot. If you're someone who manages a helpdesk, or knows of someone else who does, check it out. Ian is looking for feedback at this early stage, to get the final release just right.

We helped design Ian with his corporate identity work several months back, working with him on the UserScape and HelpSpot logos and website templates. Ian has a great weblog post about his experience designing the logo from a client's point of view, complete with sketches and art.

Ian, best wishes for great success on HelpSpot! :-)

Technorati Tags: design, helpdesk, logos, micro-ISV, webdesign

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August 25, 2005

Design Resources

Lately I've stumbled onto some excellent design-related blogs and podcasts, which have been challenging me professionally, and I like that.

First is The Prepared Mind, a group blog run by Chris Gee. His recent posts cover the LogoWorks story, where professional designers seem to be finding lifted ideas submitted to clients through LogoWorks by the freelance designers who work for them. If you're interested in the story, check out Chris' running coverage of the issue here:

LogoWorks or LogoJERKS?
LogoWorks: set the record straight
More LogoWorks' greatest rips
The LogoWorks controversy rages on
LogoWorks RESPONDS
Two LogoWorks designers speak
LogoWorks backs out of Friday podcast

Chris is also rolling with podcasting, providing some excellent long-form discussion about the design industry, with experts in the field. Here are all of The Prepared Mind podcasts, but my favorites so far:

Podcast #1 - Remote Collaboration
Chris speaks with Neil Tortorella about designers using remote collaboration to work with team members around the world, the impact of globalism on design, the challenge for designers to step up as leaders to differentiate themselves in the marketplace and more. Excellent discussion!

Podcast #6: Emily Cohen, the business of GD
Emily Cohen consults creative professionals on the design business. Listen as Chris talks with her about the business of graphic design and as she shares tips with designers for improving themselves business-wise.

Podcast #4: GK VanPatter, NextDesign Institute
Chris talks with GK VanPatter of NextDesign Leadership Institute about NextD, the design world, design leadership and the professional challenges facing designers in the 21st century.

More Design Podcasts
I've also come across two other design-oriented podcasts, but have not had time to listen this week. I hope to dive into these next week:

Typeradio Podcast (focused on typography and graphic design)
Icon-o-Cast Podcast (discussion on design in general)

Belief Design & Life Action Experiments
Also, in the same vein as the Pollinate: Chain Reaction movie I learned of from Jason Santa Maria, here is a followup film by Belief about a creative workspace:

Belief Pollinate: The Common Desk (VERY large Quicktime movie)

This piece is funny, edgy, rough, but very challenging ideas about changing up your work space and process for better creativity.

Technorati Tags: design, graphics, logos, podcasts

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August 9, 2005

Micro-ISVs and Corporate Identity

UserScape Today I was notified by writer, blogger and Micro-ISV owner Bob Walsh, that the interview I'd done on the phone had been posted at his weblog. The entire interview is available under Micro-ISV Tip #6: Visual Integrity.

Here's a snippet to give you an idea:

Q. Why should a micro-ISV get a professional in to do their logo?
A. There are certainly ways of doing it yourself, or buying an off-the-shelf stock logo for fifty bucks, with exclusive rights in the 200 dollar range. Problem is, if you have a very specific company and you're looking to portray what your company stands for, you're already adapting to an existing logo that may not fit what you do. You're already starting off with a compromise.

It’s subtle, but because it’s important to get the idea of your company or product across quickly and fully. Any confusion or lack of clarity can delay the first good impression. Design is becoming more and more a critical for businesses, particularly on the Internet where you see the identity long before connecting with a person.

In a nutshell, you should hire a design professional because is it’s not your specialty. If you're a micro-ISV, you're always trying to be very effective with your limited time and energy. By doing it yourself you may actually spend more time and energy than you want and yet may not be happy with the end results.

Here are comments about my sketch-first approach to logo design:

One of the key differences is, I’m a bit old school, so I start with multiple pen or pencil sketch concepts and involve the client early in the decision-making process.
One of the advantages of the sketch approach are amount of ideas I can generate quickly on paper. Further, by involving the client in the process, they can see the progression going forward, and have input in the direction. I think this is much better approach than the client waiting in the dark for several weeks, then presented with a single color logo and being told, "Ok, there’s your logo".

Q. It sounds like that collaborative process between yourself who is a professional at this and the client is the meat of what you’re selling.

A. Yes, I think it is. The more I’ve thought about why people come to me — and obviously some people are going to choose other ways for various reasons such as budget — those who have chosen me like the fact that I sketch and that they are deeply involved in the process. They like that they have a say in where things are going.

Bob contacted me a few weeks back, seeking an interview for a new resource book he's writing, aimed at helping Micro ISV owners get started on the right foot. Since I've helped several Micro-ISV owners with logos and graphics, it seemed a great opportunity to lend my thoughts to his book project and "give back" to the Micro-ISV community.

Micro-Wha?
Now you may be asking "What the heck is a Micro-ISV?" and that would be a fair question. ISV stands for "Independent Software Vendor, and the "Micro" prefix simply means a very small shop (1-3 staff) creating the software. To get an idea what a Micro-ISV owner goes through, I recommend Ian Landsman's blog post Starting a Micro ISV, In The Beginning … there was nothing to get the gist.

Ian was my first Micro-ISV client, who's popular Creating a Business Logo post has sent quite a bit of logo work from small business people my way this past year. In fact, Bob's interest in my work came via Ian Landsman's business logo weblog post!

It was a great experience interviewing with Bob and hopefully providing some good advice to Micro-ISV owners trying to start well. Hopefully my comments will make it past the book editor and into the final book. Once I have a link to Bob's book, I'll be sure to list it here for reference.

Finally, if you happen to be a Micro-ISV owner, independent consultant, or business owner looking for some help with logos and graphics, I'd love to help. Feel free to drop me a line!

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July 14, 2005

New Palm Logo Critique

Heard from both Michael Ashby and Russell Beattie that Palm, Inc. (formerly palmOne) has a new logomark as of today. If you don't know, PalmSource sold the rights to the Palm name back to palmOne at the recent DevCon and July 14th was the day palmOne changed to Palm. Confused yet? :-)

Names aside, I wanted to comment on the new logo design, from a designer's perspective. Here are the original and new logo, side by side (thanks to Russ):

Palm Logos

Too Much Orange
Russell Beattie seemed to dislike the orange ball versus the original black and blue mark:

Call me a stick in the mud, but I think the new Palm logo doesn't have the same cool-factor that the first one did. The old one reminds me of BMW - especially when you see it as a button on a device - it conveys a sense of technical excellence. The new one is like a dot-com startup which alludes to the old logo, but then adds orange as a sign of “innovation,” but I don't think it works.

I agree. I love orange, but in this case I think the color doesn't display enough weight. That, combined with the very light gradated metal ring edge, further reduces the 'gravitas' of the mark. Hardware has weight and volume, so by representing the company with such a bright, light logo, I feel the substantial presence projected by the original mark is lost.

Font Problems
I actually dislike the new typeface more than the colors. The original typeface was very vertical and compressed, yet was quite easy to read in an instant. The original blue mark was immediately identifiable, while the new orange mark takes a few seconds to process. This is even more of an issue having such a bright color and weak gray gradation ring around it — there is literally no weight to make the mark stand out. Even worse, the white type on orange is difficult to read.

Notice how short the new font is compared to the original — the height of the palm letters are half of the very tall, compressed letter forms of the original logo. This is a pretty big deal, because it limits how small the mark can be on hardware, websites, printed materials and so forth. Because of this very small font size, the new mark on Treos and LifeDrives will have to be larger than the original logo.

The original compressed typeface scaled quite well to small sizes — to prove this, look at the flat, one-color Palm logomark on most new Palm OS devices. The new shorter font just doesn't scale well at small sizes — the “a” starts looking like an “o” and there is less vertical area to help your eye sort out the letter forms.

It's too bad Palm felt they had to do something new, because they've lost an excellent, memorable and readable logo mark. Honestly, I think even hard-core Palm fans like me are still confused who truly “owned” the Palm name.

Oh well.

Technorati Tags: design, palm

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April 30, 2005

PocketGoddess Reborn

On Friday, my friend and fellow Palm OS User Council member Jen Edwards had a small wish come true — she saw her PocketGoddess website reborn! It was revamped with a new look and a new Movable Type system to make her writing and publishing much easier. I'm most pleased because this refresh will allow Jen to enjoy writing, instead of fighting with a manual, cobbled together system.

I was fortunate to help her out with this transformation, thanks to my good buddy Michael Ashby. He asked me to be involved in developing a logo for Jen and setting direction on the design, so he could focus on the technical stuff of Movable Type and building HTML and CSS templates.

The logo started as all of my logo work does, in my Miquelrius sketchbook. I had a chat with Jen about her wants and needs, then began drawing ideas out of her comments and my ideas for her identity. I wanted mainly to provide a more refined look for Pocket Goddess, something that would represent Jen's personality but also have a classic, professional feel.

Through the sketching process, we both centered on a simple goddess icon, and I explored type and sharpening up the icon itself. From this process I chose two fonts (Gill Sans & Spring Script). For the final stage, Jen and I discussed color, and I learned she dearly loved blues and greens. So, finding the right blues and greens became the task. I preferred a “leafy” green color, though I did explore a blue green option. In the end, the leafier green won out.

Once the logo was determined, I spoke to Michael Ashby about his structural plans for the site. He was setting up multiple Movable Type weblogs for Jen to use, so she could manage all of the news, reviews and other content of her site in a more effective way than her current mostly-manual system.

Michael simply wanted a main page design comp from which he could spin the rest of the site. So, I provided Mike with a quick layout and some graphics, which he turned into templates and eventually, the entire site. Michael put a much more significant amount of effort into his end of the project, making sure every detail was handled, right down to the sub-categories, font formatting and browser testing. Michael spent many hours getting this site up to his high specifications.

I'm very proud of the look and feel and the teamwork we enjoyed during the project. Jen might say it took too long (she was excited the whole way through and both Michael and I worked on the project on our evening and weekends) but I would bet she'd now say that it was well worth the wait. :-)

My thanks to Jen for the opportunity and for Michael's hard work bringing the PocketGoddess site to life for Jen. You guys rock!

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March 1, 2005

ComputerRepair.com Logo Contest Winner

On Monday evening, was was informed by ComputerRepair.com that I'd been chosen as the winner of their logo design contest. First off, thanks go to Erik J. Barzeski, who told me of the contest.

This is the very same contest I spoke of last week, in my Just Good Business post. In the end, good was served, when the logo entry which used a pre-made logo was disqualified. I'm not sure how this impacted the voting, since I didn't have access to internal voting forums, but I suspect it didn't hurt my chances.

Whatever the case, I felt it would be interesting to show my sketches and final submissions to the contest here, to document my process of logo design for those curious about it. I hope to do more of this documentation of work, because it provides insight into a designer's thought processes to the curious.

Sketches
First, I went to a Miquelrius sketchbook, my normal starting point for capturing ideas. I knew the logo ComputerRepair.com wanted should convey the idea of a network, service providers and clients, so I began playing with various ways of conceptualizing a network.

Here's a scan of the concepts page:

Final Art
I wanted to keep effort minimal (not knowing if I'd win or not), so I went right from the best concept, to final art. Normally this would be a longer process, involving the client's input on what they liked, and my explanations of why I drew what I did.

The two best concepts are circled on the sketches page, though in the end I preferred the more 'galactic' looking concept for its simplicity and feeling of movement.

At the center of this logo is the client, around which everything revolves. Circling the client dot is the ComputerRepair.com network, which provides clients with service providers to solve their IT needs. The 4 outer dots are the service providers, connected to clients through the ComputerRepair.com network.

Here are the 4 color entries I submitted to the contest:

I wanted something bright (per the contest directions) yet business-like. I began with a blue/green palette (1), a variation with black logotype (2), then adding in warmer colors (3 & 4) to round out my submissions.

Number 4 was my favorite, because the orange 'client' ball at the center felt like a sun, the blue spiral arms of the galaxy representing the network, and green dots for the service providers. I also preferred the weight of black text on the ComputerRepair.com logotype.

I also took a chance by writing a new, simple tagline for the service: 'IT Services Network' which tied in with the galaxy concept. It also simplified and clarified the tagline being used with their current logo: "Manage the Process."

ComputerRepair chose number 4 for entry into the contest:

I'm very pleased to have won, though there is a chance my logo won't be used by ComputerRepair.com (declared in the rules). It depends on the company, and there may even be some competing work from other designers — I don't know. If things go well, the logo will be used, if not, I have the satisfaction of winning and $750. :-)

More Logo Design Experiences
If this short post on my processes has interested you, I'd suggest reading Creating a Business Logo, a blog article written by Ian Landsman, founder of UserScape software.

Ian and I worked together on his company and product logos. When we finished, he used samples of my work and wrote out his thoughts on the process from a client's point of view. His post was very enlightening, because I learned about his decisions and thoughts thoughts through the entire logo design journey.

Ian's post was informational, but even better, his article has been directly responsible for bringing two new clients to the firm I work for, both in need of logo designs. So, not only did I enjoy the process with Ian, now I'm able to recreate the experiences for two other firms excited about new corporate identities. Blogging does pay off!

I hope this article was informative and interesting. If you have comments or thoughts, feel free to leave them here. If you're in need of a logo for your business, I'd love to speak with you about it — just send me an email.

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February 20, 2005

Rohdesign Version 2.0 Goes Live

Well, I did it. As of this writing (11:46 PM Saturday evening) the main page of the new weblog design is live. I hope you all like the new design as much as I do.

You may be asking, why the sudden change of design? Well actually, I've already stepped through most of the redesign process in the summer of 2004, stopping with a final design I liked at the time. A vacation interrupted the process for a week, but when I came back, the design I'd settled on just didn't feel quite right yet. So, rather than push it through, I decided to let the design percolate in my subconscious for a while.

During the course of percolation, I began to have other ideas about how the site should look, and what should be present. I knew for sure the site should be simple, clean, direct and readable, yet also attractive (I am a designer after all).

I began to feel strongly about adding a photo of myself on the site, which had been removed in the earlier redesign process. The more time I spend in web design and blogging, the more I feel that sites which portray a person (or persons) behind them have an edge over sites which do not. To me, they feel cold and impersonal.

An About page became a requirement (which is not yet fully expanded) to provide some background on myself for new visitors and for long-time readers alike.

I kept the Reading block from the most recent redesigns, and will probably add a Listening block (with a fave CD) very soon. I always find other bloggers' reading and music choices quite interesting, so it only made sense to include my own selections. These will be linked to my Amazon Associates account, so if you end up liking a book or CD I'm checking out, using those links is always appreciated. :-)

Part of the key for me was to start with stock Movable Type templates rather than from scratch on the project. Even though I've done a fair amount of editing, it really helped to have a starting point — I'm sure they will continue to be tweaked and adjusted.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the redesign results. I'm certain there will be changes coming, but I've at least stepped through the door now. Now that I'm through, it seems less of a challenge to adapt the remaining templates to the new look.

Finally, if you see issues, errors or freaky reactions in your favorite browser, please leave a comment or contact me with the details.

Update 2005-02-21
Reader Fazal Majid sent along a nice email today, pointing out some of the missing styling on the site. I replied to Fazal, and thought it might be interesting to post some bits of my reply and a few other thoughts related to the redesign.

Unstyled Pages
So, you may have noticed some ugly supporting pages on the blog (permalinks, archives, etc.). Reason: rather than trying to get a perfect design ready and launch all at once, I made a decision to make it a process — the main page first, followed by secondary and supporting pages.

"Life is not a dress rehearsal. Quit practicing what you're going to do, and just do it. In one bold stroke you can transform today." — Marilyn Grey

The unstyled pages for permalinks, comments and archives for a little while, until I'm free to get in and apply the new templates and stylesheets. I've intentionally allowed the un-styling to exist, rather than waiting for every page to be perfect.

By keeping this a process, I can improve the design and function as I go, rather than taking months to build something only to go through the same process later. Besides, I was curious to see what kind of feedback my readers would provide.

"We'd much rather see entrepreneurs build something quickly, get it out there, and let the customers bang on it and evolve it. The entrepreneurs who insist on over engineering their solutions inevitably end up with nothing to show for it." — Fred Wilson

It's been an interesting experience to let go. As long as the site is functional and ugly, I'm Ok with that. Instead of modifying the entire site in an all-nighter, I can make smaller changes when time allows.

Stark Design
Fazal also commented on the starkness of the design. I had a few reasons for such a clean, simple design. Since the primary focus on this site is writing, I wanted the text to receive the focus. I plan to keep the design simple and elegant — maybe a little more stark than I might normally allow.

At lunch today, I resolved most of the issues with the main page — mainly Internet Explorer 6 problems (surprise, surprise!). I've added a new color bar up top, to replace a gradation that was a bit too light.

There are still more changes coming. If you see any weirdness or have suggestions, I'm quite open to your thoughts. Rather than assuming I know what readers want, I'd love to hear it from you directly.

Thanks again for all of the excellent comments and encouragement!

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January 24, 2005

Kula 1001 Icon

Received good news on Sunday night! Adriaan Tijsseling, the author of blogging tool ecto, dropped a line to tell me my new icon for 1001 (a Flickr photo stream management tool) was used on his latest beta. Alright!

I've been a user and fan of ecto since June, so when I learned via Michael Ashby that Adriaan was looking for some icon and design help with ecto, I dropped him a line. As it turns out, Adriaan found help with the ecto project with designer Neil Dixon. However, he was also in need of a new icon for his 1001 app, a tool for viewing and managing your own and others' Flickr streams. I felt honored to be offered the opportunity, so I immediately agreed to take on the project through the company I work for, MakaluMedia.

So, I began as I usually do, with sketches in my Miquelrius sketchbook. The concepts were scanned and emailed to Adriaan for review. The process went quickly, as one of the concepts in my sketches — an earth with photo streams wrapped round, being viewed by a loupe — resonated with both of us.

From there, I began the icon construction process. At first I tried to sketch the sphere with streams wrapping around it, but soon realized it would be difficult to get right without good reference. The next day I had an idea in the shower — why not wrap strips of paper with black photo blocks printed on them around one of Nathan's kickballs?

So that's exactly what I did — and it worked perfectly! The strips provided a perfect template for re-drawing in Adobe Illustrator. I then copied the vector art from Illustrator into Fireworks, to add color and paste photos into the stream blocks on the globe.

In fact, if you look very closely at the pics on the streams of the final icon, you can make out shots of Adriaan, his friends and several of my own family. It's always fun to see the icon, because even though the little pixelized photos are obscured, I can still remember the moment when each family photo was taken.

I had a blast working on this icon. It always feels great to see a project like this come together, especially when the process leading up to the final art was so much fun! :-)

Thanks Adriaan!

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January 10, 2005

Design Stagnation and Renaissance

Tonight's posting has been brewing for several days, but wasn't fully steeped until I came across Design In-Flight Magazine earlier today. Jason Santa Maria's excellent cover story, Fighting off design stagnation was the key to releasing these thoughts.

I found Design In-Flight magazine via Andy Clarke's excellent And All That Malarkey weblog. It was today's post, Fighting off design Stalinism which caught my eye, along with Andy's hearty recommendation of DIF magazine. I decided to buy the yearly subscription for $10 and boy what a great deal! DIF is an excellent magazine.

Jason's article is superb, both for its timing and ideas. Having been in the Shadow of the Valley of Creativity last May, I could immediately relate to Jason's thinking. Here's an excerpt from the opening paragraph:

I’ve only been out of school and working in the industry for a few years now, but I can already feel it. The feeling like my hands are getting tied. Like I am coming up with the same old ideas or dipping into my overused bag of tricks too often. I am left racking my brain for new directions and feeling like the design world will surely leave me behind to make way for today’s new design youth. You might laugh because it’s only been a few years, but this is where it begins.

That was pretty much how I felt in early 2004, feeling in need of a boost of creativity. I didn't doubt my skills as much as I knew I needed to kick-start my creative juices again — often easier said than done.

Lately I've been experiencing a serious creative renaissance, which I can now actually trace back to that very post on May 27th. It was the admission, not only to myself and my wife or friends, but to my weblog and its readers, which set me on this forward path.

I now see clearly that the very first step toward my coming to grips with this situation was admitting where I was. Once the cat was "out of the bag", so to speak, real changes could take place — like the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings I've seen portrayed on TV.

"Hi my name is Mike, and I'm a designer."

Since that May, I've taken several steps toward change. I've intentionally taken the time to sketch regularly, both for work projects and just for fun. I've furiously pursued XHTML & CSS design, becoming more fluent in those two languages in the process.

I've also found myself contemplating design much more often, seeking out good design like well-brewed espresso. Reviewing logos on trucks, in magazines and on websites. I even find myself trying to decipher why designs do or don't work. Design really has become a passion again, and I'm loving it.

There's been another change in these past months, my weight loss of 30 pounds on the South Beach diet. While not directly design related, this physical change has generated much more energy for pursuit of work and play. Feeling good has provided a positive burst, impacting all other parts of my life. Even more though, losing weight has provided proof to myself that I really could change, if I admitted where I was, believed it and did something about it. It was difficult at first, but wow, is it worth it now!

So, if you're finding yourself in a funk at the start of this new year, maybe the first step is to admit to yourself and maybe your family and friends, where you're at. Once you can realistically point out your position on the map, it's much easier to find the way home.

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December 8, 2004

Down The Weblog Rabbit Hole

Ugh, tonight was both bad and good, in that order. Currently it's very late and my weblog is back to quasi-normal again. Tonight, I decided to dig out a nagging problem with comment forms not working on the permalink pages. What started as simple troubleshooting, turned into a spiraling sinkhole! Aieeee!

At one point, I'd even reverted to an almost original default state for the template and CSS, but even that seemed to fail. With some critical help from fellow web designer, Jordan Arentsen , I came to see that it was the craptacular HackTML I had used on the permalink pages (and everywhere else), which was breaking the forms in Windows Internet Explorer. This has now been cleaned up a bit, so if you've had problems accessing the comment forms here in Win IE, please test out the new permalink pages.

What this has brought to the forefront is the need for a cleaning up of this weblog over the Christmas break. When I began the weblog I knew very little about Movable Type, CSS or XHTML, so consequently the templates here were fine quality hack jobs. Now that I have a much better grasp of HTML/CSS and a bit more about the MT codes, I think it's time to clean things up here.

You may also know that I've been meaning to redesign the site, posting several articles about it this summer. Well, while I like the new design, the more I look at the current design, the more I like it. The clean and direct look work — some cleanup and simplifications should improve it even more.

Alright, time for bed. :-)

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December 3, 2004

MailDrop 2.0 Icon Story

MailDrop 2.0 Icon Okay everyone, time for a little horn-tooting PR for a “design the icon” contest I won on November 18th. I think the busyness of the season and Thanksgiving holiday threw me off, because I'd intended to mention this sooner. :-)

Anyway, Matt Henderson, the owner of MakaluMedia (the company I'm design director for), alerted me of an icon contest being offered at Erik Barzeski's NSLog weblog. Erik runs Freshly Squeezed Software, makers of various Mac OS X applications, including a Mail Merge app called MailDrop. It turns out that MailDrop is being updated to 2.0 and was in need of a new icon.

Well, I figured what the heck. While I have 15-some years of graphic design experience, I've never done a Mac OS X icon before. I thought this project could be fun, challenging and educational. Better yet, the icon concept they were looking for was somewhat cartoony, and hey, I love cartooning. So I took on the project.

Erik liked the direction in my sketches and rough icon ideas, so I proceeded with the icon project and ended up winning the contest. The final set of application icons are posted with this article. We're still in the process of finalizing the app's document icon.

My icon building process took a little time to sort out at first. I ended up working in Macromedia Fireworks, because I could use vector art, yet see immediately how my changes would appear in pixels. I also experimented with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, but because of my daily use of Fireworks and its vector/pixel feature, it just suited me best.

Once I had a final icon, I exported a master PNG file with transparency. Then I opened the file with Photoshop 7 for conversion into icons using a handy Photoshop plugin from IconFactory, called IconBuilder. At $69 It's not cheap, however, for the time it saves doing icons, I can see its value. I love that IconBuilder has no use restrictions (other than a nag screen which appears after multiple uses), because this allowed me to fully test it out before we decide to purchase it.

If IconBuilder is a little too high for your budget, there are other free and shareware tools out there, like Icon Composer (included with the Xcode Tools on the OS X developer CD) or the $15 shareware tool, Iconographer.

Should an icon for OS X be in your future, check out these helpful Apple documents: Icon Genres and Families, Suggested Process for Creating Aqua Icons, and Tips for Designing Aqua Icons. Here's another useful reference: OS X Icon Tutorial from O'Reilly's MacDevCenter.

Overall, it was a great challenge, and indeed, very educational. In fact, it felt very good to dive into something I'd never done before!

Ok, here's my final PR spiel for this Friday: If you happen to need a little icon work or any other type of design work (web or print), please feel free to drop me a line. :-)

Have a great weekend!

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August 24, 2004

Rohdesign Redesign Status and CSS Thoughts

Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be redesigning this site, aren't I?

Busted. ;-)

Ok, It's been a while since I've last mentioned my weblog redesign, because honestly, I've done nothing on it for several weeks. Looking back, I can see our vacation break in July putting me off track, along with our busy summer schedule.

This has, however, been a good thing. I've had a chance to break away from the project and clear the cache in my brain. When I had a peek at my latest design yesterday, I found a several things to change, which I hadn't noticed during the redesign process.

Often, design projects haven't much margin for this time of separation, since there are usually hot deadlines. This experience reminds me that stepping away mentally, even for a short time, can be very beneficial.

I also have more experience with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), after completing the redesign of the Callisto Space website, a long time client of MakaluMedia (the company I work for). This project was a great opportunity to explore some new areas of CSS and XHTML that I hadn't worked with before. Overall, I feel the project turned out quite nicely.

CSS has been a challenge for me, partly because my roots are in print-based graphic design and several years of old-school (once called 3rd generation) web design using tables with invisible spacers (per David Siegel's Creating Killer Websites) . It's always difficult to step away from something you know, into things you must learn, especially a language like CSS.

I've found with CSS, that things don't always work as I might expect, or what I expect to be easy to do, is usually more complex than it appears. However, with each of these CSS challenges, I've found I'm getting a much better feel for CSS. It can be a hassle and a pain, but I try to stay optimistic, reminding myself regularly that I'm learning a language, and growing through my experiences.

Of course, tutorials on CSS techniques, like those found at AListApart and SimpleBits, are indispensable. I've also found books, such as Jeffery Zeldman's Designing with Web Standards and Eric Meyer's Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide and Eric Meyer on CSS very useful as well.

Overall, I'm really loving CSS, despite how strange and challenging it often is. I find the power CSS offers me, far outweighs the comfort of old-school web design. The idea of changing a single style sheet which effects an entire website is just too good to let go of now. I suppose I'm hooked. :-)

So, despite the gap in activity, I'm back to focusing on the redesign once again. I've planned to start template construction later this week and weekend, hoping to put up a demo for you all to see on Monday.

If you have any feedback on the redesign so far, feel free to drop a line. For reference, here are all previous entries related to the project:

Rohdesign Redesign Project
Rohdesign Redesign: Part 1
Rohdesign Redesign: Status Report
Rohdesign Redesign: Part 2
Rohdesign Redesign: Part 3
Rohdesign Redesign: Part 4
Rohdesign Redesign: Part 5
Rohdesign Redesign: Part 6

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August 9, 2004

Thoughts on Optimal Design

Rivendell Bikes Lately I've been brewing on the theme of optimal design — the idea that there's a perfect, or near perfect design for many objects. By optimal, I mean items which are so well balanced, no improvement of significance can be made on their design. Below are a few examples...

Rivendell Bicycles
The idea of optimal design was clarified in my mind while having a discussion with my blogpal, Michael Ashby, a complete devotee of Rivendell Bicycle Works. Rivendell is a custom bicycle builder in Walnut Creek, California. The Rivendell folks believe there is indeed an optimal bicycle design, built on a foundation of a strong, lugged steel frame, surrounded by solid, reliable and proven components. Optimal bicycles should durable, comfortable and (most of all) fun to ride for a very long time. Rivendell bicycles aren't cheap, but if your bike lasts your lifetime and your son or daughter's lifetime, the cost seems quite reasonable.

Pilot and Palm V PDAs
Along the same line of design thinking was the original Pilot handheld. Jeff Hawkins spent an awful lot of time in the initial design, simplifying and focusing the Pilot's features and purpose. The Pilot was designed to do a few things very well and because of this focus, it was a smash hit. Equivalent to the original Pilot was the Palm V, another nearly perfect design. It was small, thin and lasted a month on a charge, but also offered a handsome appearance for the many business executives who carried it (and likely still do). I still recall how the Palm V was the device to beat. I'd wager the Palm V still has impact on its descendants and competitors.

The Moleskine Notebook
Another item of optimal design is the Moleskine notebook. The size is perfect for a pocket, the cover tough enough to take abuse, paper is high quality, and the elastic strap keeps the cover closed (protecting the interior). The design is so intriguing, Moleskines have a very strong following among artists, engineers and professionals alike. These small notebooks are not cheap compared to many notebooks, but their build quality, optimized design and durability make them very reasonable for people who value these qualities. Just pay a visit to Armand Frasco's Moleskinerie weblog frequented by Moleskine fans and junkies to see the passion.

Apple iPod and iPod Mini
Not much needs to be said about the Apple iPod and iPod Mini, both very popular MP3 players. Again, iPods aren't the cheapest or most featured music players on the market — yet do well and are the target of every competitor. The iPod design combines simplicity with effectiveness in a way that attracts a wide variety of buyers, even though clunkier but cheaper competitors flood the market. Design and quality are very recognizable.

Optimized is not Necessarily Perfection
Now, that's not to say optimal design is necessarily perfect — I'm sure Rivendell bikes have their issues, as I know the other items I've mentioned do. The original Pilot was a bit creaky and had a dim monochrome screen, Moleskines have no way to attach a pen or pencil and the iPod is behind the curve in some ways. Still, even with minor issues, flaws or missing features the items I've mentioned here are generally recognized as optimal designs.

What is Optimal Design?
I believe the description of an optimized design is this — an item that's simple, focused on core tasks/goals, constructed with high quality materials, considerate of the user, and built on previous proven designs or design ideas that have been thoroughly contemplated. An optimal design should have function, practicality and quality held in higher regard than flash, fashion, and glitz. However, an optimal design should still be aesthetically handsome or beautiful and functional. Form follows function.

What are your thoughts on optimal design? What objects or items would you consider optimal designs? How about un-optimal designs? Please leave a comment with your thoughts on the subject — I'd love to hear them.

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July 16, 2004

Rohdesign Redesign: Part 6

Another week has passed and I've made good final progress on the design. In fact, I feel I'm where I want to be to start hacking graphics and coding the design into XHTML and CSS templates for the site.

Color Issues
Since my last post I've wrestled with colors. My original intent was to carry forward the colors from my old weblog design, in more muted tones. As I continued to look at the burnt orange, teal and purple, I felt these were just not working with the new design. They felt dated, probably because I've been looking at them for years.

After color discussions with my pal Andy, I decided to make a break with the past. Last week's chips showed muted blues with burnt oranges. Andy suggested a burgundy might be a nice accent, so I began experimenting with burgundy on my layouts. I liked the contrast, and realized burgundy is a color I love (two favorite shirts prove it).

You can see my progression from greenish-blue and burnt orange to the addition of burgundy on 03.8a, 03.8b, 03.8c, 03.8d and finally 03.9. In the end, I liked the color balance: cool, muted blue, rich burgundy, warm burnt orange as an accent color and the ever useful gray.

Navbars
As you can also see, I've kept the plain text navigation (which will be built using an unordered list) and have added an orange tint and orange diamond to differentiate it from other blue section headers while staying consistent with them. My thinking for these is to use background images for the navbar graphics. I may also utilize the hover feature of links to create a rollover effect... we'll see.

Two Columns
I wrestled with the Three (3) vs. Two (2) column design a bit as well. Three columns offered nice flexibility and readability for the site, but also meant that I would need to fill a third column — specifically a "sideblog" (Notable) and the quote section (Quotable). The quote section was an add on from the start, so it was relatively easy to leave off.

The Notable section was harder. I wanted to have an outlet for links in a sideblog, for busy days when a full post is difficult. However, reality settled in. I have very limited time... why was I adding another weblog to my list of to-dos? I would much rather invest time into quality weekday posts than into maintenance of a good sideblog.

Lastly, I felt the need to simplify the design — going to two columns resolved the complexity issue and put focus back on the post section of the weblog — another goal from the outset. Writing is after all, the whole point.

Bye Bye Radio Waves
As much as I liked the idea of radio waves, they just never worked as I'd envisioned. I tried textures, airbrush techniques and fine lines, but each variation seemed to bother me when intersecting text on the page. Following my gut and the simplicity rule, the radio waves had to go. Maybe at a future point I can add them back — if a solution presents itself.

Details, Details
Other small details were added: rounded edges for nav and sectional bars, slightly larger fonts overall, new icon and tweaked text for Lowdown, adding my name to the "World Famous Designer" tagline up top (that tagline is a joke, BTW), and a gradation on the bar behind the globe.

Hack & Code
So, with my design settled, it's time to start the graphic hacking and XHTML/CSS coding of the template. So let the fun begin. I plan to have the template completed by next week, but as I'm off for vacation the week after, it may move into August. We shall see.

Have a great weekend everyone! :-)

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July 9, 2004

Rohdesign Redesign: Part 5

It's another Friday and time for an installment of the Rohdesign Redesign chronicles. This week was not as active as last week, though I've learned some things from objective feedback and have made decisions on color.

More Objective Feedback
All along the process of redesign, I've been asking for feedback from other people — friends, family and readers. This weekend, my brother Steve and his wife Janet were in town for the 4th of July, so I had Janet take a peek at my layout progression. She's a creative person (kitchen designer), yet she is still far enough away from this project to offer some more objective opinions.

She liked the globe logo, and seemed happy in general with the overall design. Janet liked the 'Lowdown' section, both for the word used and the brief intro to the weblog and its writer (me). One item bothering her was the use of only a start quote on the block quote. I hadn't even considered this, but it made me take note and think about the design.

I've also received feedback from my friend Andy, who has been advising me during the project. He had suggestions about graphical treatments of the navigation to better match other areas, ideas for a right aligned navigation, use of grey as a color, and thoughts on color densities. Again, good food for thought.

Jason Santa Maria wrote in to suggest a treatment of some sort be applied to the navigation, maybe moving to graphics rather than text links. This focus on navigation being maybe a bit too plain or not in sync with other parts of the site seemed to be a theme to consider.

I intentionally left my layouts alone until Tuesday. My only contact with them was to bring them for Janet's review, but even then I only took her comments down mentally.

Consideration
After some away time, coming back to the layouts felt fresher, and the comments made by friends and family made more sense. That single quotation mark did start to bother me a little, and the navigation did seem lost in the shuffle.

I'm still not completely sold on the 3 column layout, wondering if maintaining a sideblog, and adding quotes each week is just more busy work I don't need added to my plate. In the end I may choose to ditch the 'Quotable' section, but hold on to the 'Notable' area.

Why? The Notable area seems a good outlet for links when I'm too busy for a full blog post — I can update the site easily, offer a new tidbit to readers, yet not invest much time unless I choose to.

Navigation is a tougher call. I want to try using unordered lists for the nav section, and I like the idea of text-based navigation, because it's easier to change. I don't want to create a gray header and icon called 'Navigation' as a navigation area should be obvious to a visitor. I think the solution will be a combination of an unordered list with background graphics. How that will look? I'm not sure yet.

Color Shift
The last large issue from my grey box and color process were colors. As I progressed through the designs, I grew less and less happy with purple. I liked the gray, the orange, the slatey blue/green, but purple was just not that interesting to me. My idea for color was to maintain it from the old site for consistency, but now I'm not so tied to this idea.

So, I spent a little time picking two main colors for the site that I did like, to see what variations I might prefer. This resulted in a palette of 4 color variations. I've not yet settled completely on any combination, but I am leaning a bit more toward the slatey blue rather than slatey green.

Next Steps
This weekend I hope to settle on a color palette, decide what to do about navigation and crank out a few more color layouts with these ideas in mind. I'd like to have settled on a design by Monday, so I can start building the site.

I'm going to use a construction approach that uses no tables for page layout — pure CSS. At work, I've just built my first website layout this way. It's gone quite well. I've been very pleased with the results, and I'm learning a ton about CSS construction. I expect the Rohdesign project will teach me even more.

Thanks for stopping by, hope this episode has been interesting and useful. :-)

Have a great weekend!

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July 2, 2004

Rohdesign Redesign: Part 4

It's been a productive week on the Rohdesign redesign, even though the original deadline of July 1 wasn't met. Partly it had to do with really seeing the scope of my undertaking as I dove in, partly it had to do with real life crashing the party.

Somewhere near the end of the month I decided not to worry about the arbitrary deadline, as it had already served its purpose: getting me excited about the redesign process. Now that I'm rolling, I've decided to set a new deadline of July 15th, because I know I work best when I have a deadline to work toward.

Documentation
I've been very pleased with the documentation process. It's been strange (in a good way) how aware I've been of my own work as I have written down my notes, made sketches or futzed with Fireworks comps. The idea of displaying notes and artwork publicly has focused my thoughts on the process in a way I hadn't expected. I've heard many kind comments from readers who are enjoying the series. Thanks everyone!

As for the project status, I've spent time this week focusing on layout refinements and color experimentation. I was generally pleased with the last grey box layout, but wasn't able to get into color schemes until Thursday, which was in the end, probably for the best.

Simplification
Some contemplation about the site design during the week came to a head on Thursday morning at the cafe. I felt the 3 column design was still too complex — it needed simplification. So, I took out my sketchbook and began putting down ideas on the way back to a 2 column layout. The general idea was to move the new 'Notable' sideblog section into the left column and heavily reconsider all of the items in the navigation area. What was critical and what not?

I needed navigation, and wanted 'Notable', 'Quotable', 'Reading' and 'Hearing' blocks to stay. I decided to move the 'Blogpals' block to the Links page and to move 'Blogtools' block to the About page. This freed up room for both 'Notable' and 'Quotable' blocks on the left navigational column.

The body text area widened out, leaving some whitespace on the right edge, in place of the 3rd column. The globe seemed a bit too large, so that was slightly reduced. Overall I felt pretty good about 2 columns, except for the nagging feeling that Notable and Quotable might be lost in the navigation row.

Color
I decided to take a break from design, to explore colors and textures. I've wanted to maintain the color scheme from the old design, at least in spirit. Feeling more attracted to strong but muted colors of purple, orange, black and green, I began colorizing two column layouts, exploring dark purples, bright and then rusty oranges, slate greens and variations of their application on elements and type.

I liked the color process, even though it was quite difficult to balance the colors I was working with. Rusty orange is a strong color when paired with deep purples and slate green. I think the color choice process is made even harder, since I want to come up with a combination I'll like for a long while, perfectionist that I am.

I've decided to post my progression of comps created with color, as links because there are quite a few: 03.0, 03.1, 03.2, 03.3, 03.4, and 03.5.

Seeking Advice
After several variations on these color schemes I brought in my advisory council. First, Michael Ashby, a fellow blogger and web designer. Michael always offers good feedback and did not disappoint. I showed him my progression of layouts, and heard his feedback, which challenged me to continue with the process.

Later that evening, I had my wife in to have a look and offer opinions. She liked my progression, though had feelings about some color choices which helped me greatly. From her suggestions I built a final color comp on Thursday evening.

Before heading to bed, I sent the progression of links to my friend Andy Bauer, whom I trust for design and color. Andy has already been a helpful through this process with the design, so I knew he would also offer useful feedback.

Boy did Andy deliver this time! He wasn't as keen on the 2 column layout as I had been, because he felt a sense possibly of "missing something" on that left column — particularly the Notable and Quotable blocks. He felt that keeping these items on the right side of the page (e.g. the original 3 column design) kept them in a place easy to see. He also had suggestions about the colors, offering his gut impression that they felt very 1980s. He liked them but wondered if they might go out of fashion.

He wasn't completely crazy about my experiments with the weathered looking globe logo. He thought it was just a bad resize in Photoshop rather than an intentional thing. As I'm new to and not totally sold on the weathering idea, I had to agree.

So, I made some adjustments per his thoughts and generated another comp, numbered 03.6. This one featured 3 columns and a gray layout (as color is being revisited).

Another friend and fellow designer, Paul Rozanski, stopped by the house this afternoon to pick up some things, so I asked him to have a look as well. He suggested I consider more descriptive identification, sharing with new visitors just who this 'rohdesign' guy was. I was encouraged me to generate one last comp this evening before dinner, 03.7. This modification featured a more descriptive tagline, a small photo and intro to the blog and myself and a little more positioning experimentation.

Decisions & Direction
The design progression for now has stopped and I've printed out each one for review. I have some contemplating to do about the design, colors and what items really ought to be on the new design, but I think this should wait until Monday. Sometimes getting away from the project helps me identify things I may not notice when I'm up too close.

So, another chapter of the process has passed and documented here. As always, if you have comments, suggestions or ideas, feel free to leave those.

Have a great weekend! :-)

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June 28, 2004

Rohdesign Redesign: Part 3

Good news! I've made progress on digital 'grey box' layouts for the redesign over the weekend, so I've decided to share them here tonight. I'm actually very pleased with the shape the design is in at this point, even though there are many details to settle on.

Grey Box Layout 01
My first grey box layout came directly from the rough sketches I'd posted in parts 1 and 2, with the globe logomark and 'rohdesign' logo type on top of each other. My goal with these layouts was to keep the design as restrained and simple as possible, after my overarching goal of "Clean, uncluttered, clear design."

While my goal was simplicity, I still wanted to remain open to changes if I felt the need. For example, as I built the digital grey box layouts in Fireworks, I felt that a migration from 2 to 3 columns was necessary to add Items not present in the initial designs. In particular, I've decided to add a 'Notable' section to the weblog. The Notable section, inspired by other blogs, will be a place where I can post links to interesting articles I don't particularly want to do full blog posts on.

Plain text with triangular graphic indicators make up the navigation, along with simple icons in light toned bars to mark off sidebar sections. Other changes included the removal of the graphic badges from the lower navigation column, in favor of text links. I've also decided to turn article headlines into permalinks, replacing the 'Permalink' text on the current design.

Grey Box Layout 02
Over the course of two sessions layout one was completed. However, it wasn't perfect. The upper section felt too vertical and disconnected — so I created a duplicate of layout 01, renamed as layout 02. I took some time to experiment with a horizontal treatment of the globe logomark and logotype, adding a color bar along the top edge of the page.

Immediately I felt the second layout suited my goals better than layout 01. I liked the offset globe slightly tilted, the rohdesign logotype to the right and carrying the tonal bars along the top edge of the page. 02 felt more balanced overall, and more interesting to boot.

Next Steps: Colors & Textures
Now that I'm comfortable with the layout, the next step is to experiment with colors and potential textures. I plan to carry my current colors over from the old design (or very close anyway). As for potential textures, I'm considering a aged look for some graphical items, but we'll see. I like crisp clean graphics, so an aged feel will need to be brewed on for a few days.

See you all on Friday...

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June 25, 2004

Rohdesign Redesign: Part 2

I'm now back in the groove and have documentation of Rohdesign Redesign: Part 2 ready for your reading and viewing pleasure. I this part of the project, I'll settle on a structure for the site and begin refined sketches to determine my direction on the look of the site templates.

In the last entry, Rohdesign Redesign: Part 1, I spent time getting my head around my objectives and goals. This is critical to getting the design train going in the right direction. While the initial planning stages might seem like a waste of time (especially if you want to get designing) I feel this goal setting phase improves and streamlines the design stage.

By having a direction in mind, I can constantly have a roadmap to look at and correct myself when I have questions. Even as I sketched out design ideas yesterday, I came back to my comment of "simplicity" which caused me to rethinking some ideas which didn't fit with that goal. So, I know this works.

Sitemapping
Before I let myself get into the design mode, I have one more step of planning to prepare — the site map. Sitemaps can seem like overkill when the design bug is knocking on your mind's door, but don't open that door yet. A sitemap is another goal device which helps you clarify where you're going before getting lost in design and template building. For instance, my sitemap helped me organize which areas linked to what, and which areas ought to be blog templates or static pages. Sitemaps are also valuable for clients, to offer them a visual, more concrete way to conceptualize a proposed site.

Page Blocking & Focus Sketching
Once I had a clear idea of the site structure, I began looking at the structure of the site's main page. I had some ideas about what should appear where, but needed to work out those details in sketch form. First, I looked at some initial sketches, then focused on the navigation bar that would appear in the left column.

I then drew out items I wanted in the navbar to see how they might look, experimenting with order and appearances. This type of focus sketching lets me explore a specific area of the site before going back to the overall design. I did this again for the body posts as well, to work out various ideas.

Next, I began exploring the look of the entire main page, in a moderately loose form. In this project I started with a single page design, marking out ideas on the margins of the page. This helped me process through items and see if they feel right or not.

As I sketched, other ideas came to mind, so I started a new page in the sketchbook, and began trying rapid variations, scribbling out ideas. I tried 4 variations that came to mind, getting them down on paper quickly to see if they were valid or not. After sketching, I added notes to each approach, for later reference. For instance, on the 3 column design (lower right corner) I felt the design cluttered, so I noted "too much stuff?" and circled the comment.

Digital 'Grey Box' Layouts
At this point I felt comfortable with my sketch explorations. I decided to spend a little time building real pieces in Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Fireworks, but keeping the elements in black and grey only (no color). I've started this approach after reading Jason Santa Maria's excellent Grey Box Methodology post. I have always followed this for logo design work, so it seemed natural to build site designs without the distractions of color too.

Unfortunately, I activated an apparently bad font and lost 20 or 30 minutes of unsaved work (hate it when that happens) which means I haven't any grey box layouts to share — that will have to wait 'til next Friday. :-)

Hopefully this second installment shares a bit more of the process I'm following as I redesign. I have found it interesting, being aware that what I'm sketching will appear publicly here for others to see (it's a good thing).

Thanks for those who have offered suggestions in Part 1, these are all much appreciated and have been included in my notes.

Alright, lots yet to do today and a busy weekend looms.

Have a great weekend!

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June 22, 2004

Rohdesign Redesign: Status Report

My Rohdesign Redesign documentation has been delayed a bit. I've decided to post an update.

I've actually made good progress planning the structure of the site, figuring out the site map. Problem is, work and good ol' regular life has impacted my time for writing the documentation.

I'm continuing the process, and will document it (some has already been put down) however, I've decided to publish part two on Friday, which will include the process of defining structure and refining the template design.

So, Until Friday...

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June 11, 2004

Rohdesign Redesign: Part 1

Hello again. It's been a good week as I progress on the Rohdesign redesign project. While I wasn't able to spend each lunch break on the project (other things inevitably came up), I was able to spend time on the weekend and evenings to make up for this. In fact, a few rough site ideas were sketched out at our patio set, while grilling chicken for dinner. :-)

On this project I'm following my normal site design process, while being mindful of that process and documenting it mentally and then on paper/digitally. The documentation of my process is quite interesting, because normally I wouldn't think about process so much — I just do it. Documentation should be beneficial, as I'll see what works well and what could be improved or added.

As a recap of this week, I'll present brief descriptions of my approach as tasks, followed by some questions for commentary.

Determine Design Goals
First, I began to contemplate what message I want to send to visitors to the Rohdesign site and weblog. I spent time thinking over this question, then took time to get my thoughts down. Here they are:

Generally, the site should be consistent. It should feel unified no matter where a visitor might end up. Specifically, the content of the weblog is very important to me, as this is the most active place on the site. Therefore, the weblog should act as the hub for the site, with branches connecting to that center hub.

The weblog is also focused on my writing but also on my design. Having a great looking, yet moldy site isn't enough. I must find a balance between quality content and a clean, good looking design which won't distract from the content.

Writing the Spec Sheet Outline
With my overall goals in mind, the next thing I did was write down specs for the website. Because I'm my own client on this project, I didn't just want to have the specs in mind, but on paper — visible. This is very important, because writing out my specs forces me to process my thoughts.

Writing out specs displays exactly what I think I want, without reservations. This is good for several reasons: First, I can see my list in all its glory, with no way to hide a warty spec in a corner of my mind. Secondly, it gives me an idea of the project scope and depth and exposes poor or unnecessary ideas I might not realize I'm holding on to. Thirdly, nothing gets lost along the way, as might happen if specs were stored exclusively in my noggin'.

I transferred the spec sheet from my Miquelrius notebook to the Mac, saved it as an RTF document, and synced the file with Wordsmith on my Tungsten E. A Wordsmith version of the specs are handy, because they are editable and portable. If inspiration strikes while I'm away from the Mac, I can easily add or edit the spec sheet, and sync back at home. In addition I can work lightly, carrying my TE and a sketchbook for sketch time at the café.

Review and Evaluate Inspiring Sites
Next, I took time to review the sites I most admired, to see how they've dealt with weblog structure, features and integration into an overall site. The idea here was not to go out and rip off another design, but to get a general feel for each designer's approach to the same problem and learn from it.

In my sketchbook, I put down loose scribbles of the overall column structure of each site, totaling 7 sketches and 9 sites (some sites used similar structures). This was a good exercise. Very quickly, I could see how some sites followed similar paths and how others took a more unique approach. Sketching structures also helped me gauge how I felt about each structure in a rapid fashion.

After my review and evaluation, I was most attracted to the approach of Greg Storey's Airbag and John Gruber's Daring Fireball, primarily for their use of white (or gray) space and overall simplicity. This approach resonates with an entry on my spec sheet:

Clean, uncluttered, clear design.

While I like visible grids for weblogs and websites, I wanted to take a different approach to the design, making white space and simplicity guiding principles. My goal after three steps became clear: Create a clean, uncluttered and simple design that's refreshing, easy to read and enjoyable to look at.

Rough Sketches
My next step was to begin with rough sketches of site designs. With the site's goals and specs and some direction from the review and evaluation process, I spent time putting very preliminary ideas on paper.

These sketches were slightly more detailed than the review scribbles, but not much. I didn't want to fall too deeply into marking out features until I had the design right, so columns were labeled simply nav, body or features. I began exploring elements of the design I felt should be prominent, and played a bit with locations of items and column ideas, adding notes for future reference.

Once I felt that the rough sketches were going in a positive direction, I stopped this process. Normally, I would have kept on, sketching more and more detailed ideas until the graphical comp stage. However, as I sketched, I realized my spec list is quite extensive and that July 1 deadline, is not far off. I decided to focus myself a bit more and create a "Must Have" minimum list of items.

Must Have List
As of this writing, here is my must have list of features and requirements:

Version 1.0 Redesign Must Haves

MT-Page Tempates/Specs:

Blog posts
Navigation

Travel
Mac
Palm
Colophon/About
RSS Feed
Archives
Search
Links

Archives

Category
Everything w/ search
Power search tool?
Monthly?

Search page (or included with archive?)
Mobile edition (make main page PDA-safe and offer mobile no-image edition?)
Blogroll
Book block
Music block
Mini-badges
Copyright/RSS/XHTML/508 area

The process of settling on a must have list was the result of my own thoughts and a good discussion with my friend Andy about some of the features. I expect this list to change as I go along, probably increasing and becoming clarified as I ask for comments from readers.

I've also decided that because the weblog is the hub of the site, I will first design this section and have it up for July 1. The remaining sections will be considered as I continue in the design and structural decision stages, I just won't build those sections until I'm happy with the weblog section.

Next Steps
From here I'll go into the sketch and structural decision stages, narrowing down a look for the site and building a sitemap. Once these are settled, its on to the comping stages, where I'll build a PNG of a template page(s). Finally, once I like the look, I'll build graphics from the PNG comp and develop a template. This is what the site will be constructed from in the production stage. Of course there will be testing needed and tweaking too.

Call for Comments
I've laid out the process for you to see, along with some sketches. Now I'd like to open the floor for readers to comment and make suggestions or offer ideas about the site and weblog.

I've already noted several things that I'd love feedback on:

Archives: What works best? I want a category archive and a full archive with search tool. Andy suggested a power search of some sort to help locate posts more easily. I'm not tied at all to Monthly archives as I hardly ever use them for other weblogs.

Search: Should there be a separate search section, or is that better located in the archives? I'm considering a global site search, but honestly wonder if there will be much searching on the other site sections.

Handheld version: As a handheld user I want to provide this feature, but just how, I'm not sure. Since I'm using XHML and CSS, it's easy enough to offer a version for handhelds with low-weight markup, even a non-image version. Further, since the main weblog page will be XHTML, it could be made to work with a handheld as well.

RSS: I like the abbreviated comments, but I wonder if a full posts feed would also be good. I'm also not sure which formats to offer, though I lean toward the most common format only. What about Atom? I'm inclined to not even bother right now, but would love to hear opinions on this.

I am also open to other topics and ideas.

NOTE: While I highly value your comments and will consider each and every one, this is my website — so I hold the final decision on what stays or what goes. I want to find a good balance of presenting the design process and hearing constructive comments but I do have to draw the line somewhere. :-)

Thanks for stopping by to read the process of part 1 in the redesign. I hope it has been informative. I would love your comments and ideas at this stage and of course, will present results of week 2 next Friday.

Have a great weekend!

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June 4, 2004

Rohdesign Redesign Project

It's time.

I've been inspired to redesign this weblog and my website. This decision has been hovering around the back of my mind for a while now, impacted by other nicely designed blogs (Douglas Bowman, Jeremy Hedley, Jason Santa Maria, Dan Cederholm, Jon Hicks, Greg Storey, D. Keith Robinson and Narayan Nayar to name just a few), internal thoughts on moving my creative and technical skills to the next step and discussions with friends on the subject of creativity, web standards and blogging.

I'm not displeased with the look of the blog now, but it feels too much like one nice face applied to a generally motley website. The old site is still there, crusty old-school graphics, broken links and all. The HTML code is a mixed bag, stretching back to 1995 and PageMill in some cases. There is no consistency of design that stretches across the entire site.

The minor problems I've been dealing with related to all of this became apparent this past weekend. It bothered me to see what a mixed up state my site was in. It's like a house, which over time gathers bits and pieces of your stuff. Sometimes you just need a spring cleaning.

Now I want to take time to build the site right. I wan to explore ideas for the design, using web standards (XHTML and CSS) for construction. Redesign is also a perfect opportunity to consider weblog and site features. For instance, I'd love post all of my travelogues and sketches. On the weblog, I want to display the book(s) and music I'm currently enjoying, have separate category archives, have a page of up to date links as I come across interesting sites. I'm sure as I think about it, more ideas will pop up.

Obstacles and Opportunities
One big problem is, redesigns take time, something limited and finite for me. I make time for my blogging over lunch hour or late in the evenings depending on the day and what I'm writing. I have a family I enjoy spending time with, I love reading and am involved in many other things outside of work and blogging. Life is busy — which I am certain, is the same story for everyone reading these words.

A discussion with Michael Ashby at the start of my lunch break today sparked an idea. What if I documented the process of a weblog/website redesign on my weblog? Rather than writing each day over lunch, why not spend lunch on Monday through Thursday on the redesign process, showing sketches and writing documentation about that process on Fridays? I thought this could be interesting for myself and would provide a glimpse inside the process for my readers.

Decision Time
The more I consider the idea, the more I like it. Today, I've decided to make this post my official starting point for the redesign process. My aim is to complete the redesign by July 1st. So, for the next several weeks, there will be weekly rather than daily posts here. Once the redesign is completed, I'll switch back to daily mode.

I'm looking forward to this. Redesign will be a good exercise of my creative and technical skills and an interesting journey to share with you. I'm very open to receiving feedback as I progress, so feel free to leave comments on the Friday update posts.

On that note, I wish everyone a pleasant weekend. Thanks for reading. :-)

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June 3, 2004

My Miquelrius Sketchbook

Miquelrius A few months ago, I happened to mention my love of Moleskine notebooks here on the weblog. The beauty of these little books are their size, durability and paper quality.

However, there are times when I need more space to draw than a Moleskine offers, particularly for graphic and web design projects I do at my MakaluMedia day job. Besides size, I don't need a hard cover or high paper quality for concept sketches.

Enter my Spanish-made, Miquelrius (Leather-Look Pad) notebook. The notebook is 6" x 8.25", a size that is small enough to toss into my shoulder bag for a café visit, yet large enough for concept sketches. Because it's smaller than US Letter or Euro A4 I can fit the Miquelrius into my smaller bags. Further, it's the perfect proportion for my technical sketch work.

The Miquelrius has 200 generous pages of thin, good quality white paper with light blue quadrille pages, wrapped in a rubbery, leather-like fabric that's thin, tough and flexible. Covers are available in black, blue, red and green. I found mine at Barnes & Noble for $10 each. Online, The Daily Planner has them for $12 each (plus shipping).

Initially, the cover material and flexibility of the Miquelrius was a bit annoying, flip-flopping all over the place. The cover and pages would also tend to roll after spreading the book out. This was quite a change from the rigid sketchbooks I was so used to using. In fact, for a long time I didn't use the notebook because of this. Then one day I grabbed the Miquelrius because it was nearby and started to use it.

And, I kept using it! Since using my Miquelrius regularly for work sketches, I've grown to love the flexible cover and pages. I like to roll the left-hand sheaf of pages and the front cover under the book to work as a handle. To restore the shape of the book, I just flip it on its cover for a while and it's good as new!

I'm always happy to find good additions to my creative toolkit, like the Miquelrius notebook. I hope my little review of these, handy, flexible sketchbooks will help them find their way to the tooklits of other creative people out there.

Update: I forgot to mention that Miquelrius notebooks are available in Moleskine sizes (3.5" x 5.5"), in the four colors noted above. Further, my Catalonian friend Paco Rivière, notes that Miquelrius is based in Barcelona. Thanks Paco! :-)

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May 27, 2004

In the Shadow of the Valley of Creativity

Yesterday at the end of a pretty good work day, I came across several websites with superb design, that made good use of the latest web standards. It was a positive experience seeing these sites, because they truly inspired me.

However, as sometimes happens, I began to feel a bit bummed out after the initial inspiration wore off. Actually, very bummed out. Suddenly the design and advanced technical state of those sites made me feel my own design work was old, crusty, and behind the curve.

Over the years as a designer, I've found this roller coaster ride a somewhat regular pattern. Sometimes good creative work inspires me, then causes me to evaluate the status of my own design work in comparison. I call the second phase of this cycle the valley of creativity, because it literally feels like I'm down in a dark valley. It's not a pleasant place to be.

Last night, I shared my feelings about being the valley of creativity with my wife. How it can make me ponder selling hot dogs from a three wheeled pushcart or running a jackhammer in a construction crew, rather than continuing as a designer. But even as these thoughts popped into my head, I could see that they were crazy. I love being a designer.

Fortunately, the valley stage gives way, sometimes in minutes, other times in hours, to the third phase of getting energized. This is where I rise to the challenge of inspiring design, by doing great design of my own. It's a good place to be. Even though I'm in the same state as in the valley, my positive outlook has returned. I'm excited about design again.

As I pondered my state of creativity last night, I began to see how important the valley of creativity is. In fact, it seems almost critical — the valley is the humbling process which allows me to honestly evaluate where I am and then strive for the next level.

Today, while I know there is still much to learn, my state is better than a year, or even 6 months ago. I'm advancing with web standards, CSS, HTML and with all of the sketching, journaling and thinking I've been doing, I feel much more creative.

Yes, there are opportunities to do better work and improve. That's what I love most about design — there is always another project on which I can practice my craft in a new way. And to me, design is as much about the process and the journey as the result.

Is this cycle is common for other designers or other creative people? I suspect it is. It would seem so, since we're always encountering something more creative than what we generate ourselves — there is always a challenge.

I choose my path. I can resign and give up, and stay at my same level, or I can rise to the challenge of even higher creative work. I choose to rise.

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April 29, 2004

eBay: Hokey on Purpose?

Lately my wife and I have been buying small things on eBay, enjoying the deals that can be had there. The other day, I was checking on recent purchase, when I noticed the eBay design. I don't know why I hadn't noticed its design before. Well, that's not exactly right — I'd noticed the eBay design before, but never really contemplated why it looks the way it does — you know, functional but a bit hokey.

Just think about it for a moment. If you've visited Amazon.com for instance, you can see just how slick a website can be. Amazon's look hasn't changed a whole lot in several years, but it is very polished and functional. But eBay... well it works but it looks like it was designed in 1997 by someone just learning to code HTML web pages. The graphics are slightly cheesy. It feels like features were hacked on as needed, without much thought as to how they worked together. This is a web designer's nightmare... or is it?

After some thought, I now believe the hokey design of eBay could be completely intentional. It might be that eBay actually sees the hokeyness of their design as a feature, not a bug.

Consider the design of eBay: it's practical, powerful and reasonably useable but admittedly, a little hokey. Okay, very hokey. However, I think that hokeyness is what exudes the feel of a home-grown community. The design isn't overly professional and slick entirely on purpose, because that would take away the current "feel" of eBay. The very un-slickness of eBay sends the message "we're just a bunch of regular folks, selling stuff. No time for flashy design, 'cause selling stuff is more important." There is an attractive, populist appeal in this.

I think Tradition and familiarity also play a part in the design. eBay has a real, long-standing identity on the web, one which is very, very valuable. I've experienced the difficulties companies face when considering significant identity changes — it's a very hard decision. Companies must ask themselves "how much can we change our look before confusing or even losing our loyal customers?" Facing this, companies often err on the side of caution and familiarity. Just consider the New Coke fiasco, and how in short order so-called "Classic" Coke re-appeared. That was a lesson in changing an identity a bit too much.

eBay's design stasis may partly be that eBay is stuck with the design. It could be that because the site was indeed designed in 1997, those pages are very hard to convert to more modern structures now. Can you imagine the impact of changing everything, every last dog-gone auction on eBay? That could be a nightmare. I've no idea how many active and archived auctions there are at this moment, but I suspect quite a few.

Whatever the case, I believe it doesn't matter because the eBay design is intended to be slightly hokey. Its design sends the right message to their users. How funny that in a world of slickness and perfection, one of the most powerful, money making sites on the net might actually want to look hokey on purpose. I find this ironic and refreshing. :-)

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January 12, 2004

My Sketching Resolution

Self Portrait, 1987 Thanks to Witold Riedel's weblog (mentioned on Friday) I've come to a decision about one resolution or goal for the year 2004 -- doing regular analog sketching. Just paging through scan's of Witold's work, I began to think about the amount of sketching I'd managed to do in 2003, which was not terribly much.

I should clarify that by sketching I mean exploratory or observatory sketching as an art form, and a an end in itself, rather than the normal required sketching ideas for design projects I work on during business hours. Of course those work-driven sketches are good and very useful, but are done for a project as a means to an end and not as an end in themselves.

No, beyond these purposeful work sketches, I now realize I must do more sketching for the fun of it. Sketching to explore ideas I have in my mind and sketching to process what I am observing in my environment. As a creative person, letting my mind explore ideas and improve my observational skills through sketching is, I think, a good therapeutic function. It seems to be good exercise for the creative and visual part of my mind, just as reading, keeping a journal and a weblog are good exercise for the verbal part of my mind.

When I think back to times when I was sketching regularly, I recall that it significantly improved my creativity at work. I believe sketching got my creative juices flowing regularly, making it much easier to produce creative solutions to problems.

Back In my college days, professor Bonifay loved to carry a huge 9x12 inch bound sketchbook and a black Sheaffer fountain pen around. He could be found sketching during his free time, scribbling away in his behemoth black book. In class, Bonifay encouraged us to become sketchers.

This was inspiring to me as a young design student and artist, so I took his advice to heart, and bought my own large bound book and Sheaffer pen. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all. Those college years were some of my most creative, and I think it had quite a bit to do with my sketching habit.

During and after college I tended to do my sketching during travels. I loved to capture places and people visually along with capturing them verbally. I've enjoyed the sketching process during my travels, so I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me that regular sketching might be beneficial all of the time. Duh! :-)

So, I have now pulled my Moleskine notebook off of the bookshelf. Starting today, I'll begin regular fun sketching. Being inspired by Witold, I think I'll scan my sketches and feature them here, just to share what's happening in my sketch life. Hopefully others can enjoy these explorations and might be encouraged to begin sketching themselves.

Thanks Witold for the re-inspiration! :-)

FYI: the sketch in the upper right corner is a self portrait, done in my big black college sketchbook, circa 1987.

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