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	<title>HOW Design</title>
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		<title>9 Multimedia Resources for Information Design</title>
		<link>http://www.howdesign.com/editors-picks/9-multimedia-resources-information-design/</link>
		<comments>http://www.howdesign.com/editors-picks/9-multimedia-resources-information-design/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Nov 2014 23:14:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jessica Farris]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Editor's Picks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HOW Books: Exclusive Excerpts & Design Book Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Infographics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[information architecture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lemonly]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howdesign.com/?p=200373</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Whether you're a web designer or specialize in graphics, information design is one of the fundamental principles of good design. Check out these excellent information design resources.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/editors-picks/9-multimedia-resources-information-design/">9 Multimedia Resources for Information Design</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Whether you&#8217;re a web designer or specialize in graphics, <strong>information design</strong> is one of the fundamental principles of usability and visual storytelling. A good grasp of information architecture enables you to create web designs, <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/how-to-make-an-infographic-old/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank">infographics</a> and other data with a user-friendly presentation.</p>
<p>If you want to learn how to design user-friendly websites, create interactive infographics, redesign your navigation, visualize a dataset or simply brush up on visual communications and information architecture, the resources below can help you become a more effective designer.</p>
<h1>9 Information Design Resources for Interaction, Infographics, Web Design &amp; More</h1>
<p><span style="color: #ffffff;">.</span></p>
<h2><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/how-to-make-an-infographic-old/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><img class="alignright wp-image-200392 size-large" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/T4477_2-274x274.jpg" alt="information design &amp; infographics design" width="274" height="274" /></a>*Live Webcast* <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/how-to-make-an-infographic-old/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank">How to Make an Infographic: Data, Design, Distribute</a></h2>
<p>We&#8217;re thrilled to announce that John T. Meyer, CEO &amp; founder of the visual marketing firm Lemonly, has joined us yet again for another round of <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/how-to-make-an-infographic-old/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank">infographic design advice</a>!</p>
<p>If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s an infographic worth? The simple answer is a whole lot more. In this webinar, Meyer will explore the power of infographics and how you can take advantage of them. This webinar will focus on the key elements of a successful infographic. You’ll learn the same recipe that Lemonly uses to make their sweet infographics—ones the firm produces for clients like Marriott, Toyota, PepsiCo, Major League Baseball, Salesforce, the United Nations and more. <a href="http://www.howdesign.com/editors-picks/7-great-infographics-design-examples-lemonly/" target="_blank"><strong>See some of Lemonly&#8217;s infographics here.</strong></a></p>
<p>In this <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/how-to-make-an-infographic-old/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank">1-hour webinar</a>, John will walk you through the three essential phases of creating a top-notch infographic: data, design and distribute. This accessible introduction to data visualization shows you how easy it is to get started.</p>
<h3><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/how-to-make-an-infographic-old/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><strong>REGISTER HERE</strong></a></h3>
<hr />
<h2><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/data-flow-2/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><em><img class="size-large wp-image-200390 alignright" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/dataflow3-215x274.png" alt="dataflow3" width="215" height="274" /></em><i>Data Flow 2</i></a></h2>
<p><em>edited by R. Klanten, N. Bourquin, S. Ehmann<br />
</em></p>
<p><em>Data Flow 2</em> expands the definition of contemporary information graphics. The book features new possibilities for diagrams, maps, and charts and investigates the visual and intuitive presentation of processes and data. Eight comprehensive chapters illuminate how techniques such as simplification, abstraction, metaphor, and dramatization function. <em>Data Flow 2</em> is a valuable reference offering practical advice, background, case studies, and inspiration.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/data-flow-2/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><strong>Get this book from MyDesignShop.</strong></a></p>
<p>Check out these images from inside <em><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/data-flow-2/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank">Data Flow 2</a>:</em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/data-flow-2/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-200398" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/data-flow-11.jpg" alt="data-flow-1" width="784" height="474" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/data-flow-2/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-200400" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/dataflow41.jpg" alt="dataflow4" width="720" height="412" /></a></p>
<hr />
<h2><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/information-architecture-prototyping-guide-web-designers-t5486/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><img class="size-large wp-image-200401 alignright" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/T5486-184x274.jpg" alt="T5486" width="184" height="274" />Information Architecture: A Prototyping Guide for Web Designers</a></h2>
<div class="product-name">
<p><em>A HOW Expert Guide By Chris Butler</em></p>
<p>Website prototyping involves the creation of an interactive experience that effectively communicates the structure, information and functionality of a website in a way that enables the remaining steps in the process, specifically design and development, to proceed without the possibility of emerging on the other side with contradictory results. Essentially, prototyping means building a model of the website before you build the actual website. This guide explains the process and important things to keep in mind when prototyping your own website project. <strong><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/information-architecture-prototyping-guide-web-designers-t5486/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank">Get the full Expert Guide here.</a></strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://media2.fwpublications.com.s3.amazonaws.com/NLS/InformationArchitecture.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read an excerpt from this Expert Guide.</a></strong></p>
</div>
<hr />
<h2>Free Video: Creating Great Infographics</h2>
<p><em>with Nathan Martin and Colin Miller</em></p>
<p>In the information age, infographics have become a legitimate way to deliver messaging—from the simplest to the most complex. An entire report can be distilled into something that resonates in a matter of minutes. Infographics can be incredibly <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/product/creative-workshop/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank">creative</a>, and can work for clients in any field or industry. While this all might be true, have you ever tried to tackle the information design process? Do you find it intimidating? In <em>Creating Great Infographics</em>, Nathan Martin and Colin Miller of the award-winning Pittsburgh-based agency <a href="http://www.deeplocal.com/" target="_blank">Deeplocal</a>, will breakdown the best ways to approach information design, how to take your clients through the process, and what works.</p>
<p>Watch the first 10 minutes of the webcast below, or <strong><a href="http://www.howdesign.com/infographic-design-how-to-make-infographics/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank">dowload the entire webcast for free here</a>.</strong><br />
<span style="color: #ffffff;">.</span><br />
<iframe class="wistia_embed" src="//fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/6u2lxsx04u" name="wistia_embed" width="640" height="400" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<hr />
<h2><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/infographics-designers-sketchbooks/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><em><img class="size-large wp-image-200383 alignright" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/info-sketch3-203x274.png" alt="info-sketch3" width="203" height="274" />Infographic Designers&#8217; Sketchbooks</em></a></h2>
<p><em>by Steven Heller and Rick Landers</em></p>
<p>Get an inside look at different designers’ creative processes for making quality infographics with <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/infographics-designers-sketchbooks/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><em>Infographic Designers’ Sketchbooks</em></a>. Through data visualization, talented graphic designers can transform a significant amount of information into stunning infographics that are easily deciphered, engaging, and memorable. Instead of merely showing the finished products of these inspiring infographics, this guide reveals the private sketchbooks of more than 50 leading graphic designers and illustrators, offering a glimpse into their creative processes. With the brainstorming methods, doodles and drawings, 3D and digital mock-ups, and other entries, this collection reveals the art and craft behind infographic design. <strong><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/infographics-designers-sketchbooks/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank">Get the book here.</a><br />
</strong></p>
<p>Check out a few of the pages from inside this design book:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/infographics-designers-sketchbooks/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-200381" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/infosketch4.png" alt="infosketch4" width="1374" height="906" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/infographics-designers-sketchbooks/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-200380" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/infosketch5.png" alt="infosketch5" width="1362" height="916" /></a>  <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/infographics-designers-sketchbooks/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-200379" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/infosketch6.png" alt="infosketch6" width="1340" height="903" /></a></p>
<hr />
<h2>Online Course: <a href="http://www.howdesignuniversity.com/courses/principles-of-information-architecture" target="_blank">Principles of Information Architecture</a></h2>
<p><em>with Brian Miller</em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.howdesignuniversity.com/courses/principles-of-information-architecture" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-200397" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/info-arch.png" alt="info-arch" width="800" height="385" /></a></p>
<p>In this course, Brian Miller will give you a crash course on information architecture. He’ll take you through site map planning, wireframes, information hierarchy, and more. You’ll learn how to think about backgrounds, headers and footers, sidebars and features—everything that contributes to how intuitive a site is to navigate. You’ll see what works and why—and what to avoid. You’ll walk away with the ability to put yourself in the user’s shoes, and to think like an information architect.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.howdesignuniversity.com/courses/principles-of-information-architecture" target="_blank"><strong>REGISTER HERE</strong></a></p>
<hr />
<h2><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/infographics/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><em><img class="size-large wp-image-200402 alignright" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/t1025-274x274.jpg" alt="t1025" width="274" height="274" />Infographics: The Power of Visual Storytelling</em></a></h2>
<p><em>By Jason Lankow, Ross Crooks, Josh Ritchie</em></p>
<p>In today&#8217;s fast-paced environment, you must communicate your message in a concise and engaging way that sets it apart from the noise. Visual content—such as infographics and data visualization—can accomplish this. With DIY functionality, <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/infographics/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><em>Infographics: The Power of Visual Storytelling</em></a> will teach you how to find stories in your data, and how to visually communicate and share them with your audience for maximum impact. <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/infographics/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><strong>Get the book here.</strong></a></p>
<p>Take a peek inside this design book:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/infographics/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-200374" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/vis-story1.png" alt="vis-story1" width="800" height="448" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/infographics/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-200377" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/viz-story4.png" alt="viz-story4" width="800" height="489" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/infographics/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-200376" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/viz-story3.png" alt="viz-story3" width="800" height="481" /></a></p>
<hr />
<h2><em><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/beautiful-users/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><img class="size-large wp-image-200403 alignright" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/T8455-213x274.jpg" alt="T8455" width="213" height="274" />Beautiful Users: Designing for People</a></em></h2>
<p><em>By Ellen Lupton</em></p>
<p>Whether you’re familiar with the name or not, Henry Dreyfuss is a figure most prominently remembered as the father of industrial design, as well as the pioneer of a user-centered approach to design and information design. In <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/beautiful-users/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><em>Beautiful Users</em> </a>by Ellen Lupton, discover various practices of UX design—an approach that prioritizes studying people&#8217;s behaviors and attitudes in order to develop successful products.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/beautiful-users/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><strong>Get the book here.</strong></a></p>
<hr />
<h2><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/information-architecture-for-designers/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank">Information Architecture for Designers</a> with David Sherwin</h2>
<p>For the HOW Interactive Design Conference, we managed to land David Sherwin, author of the popular books <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/creative-workshop-z5257/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><em>Creative Workshop</em></a> and <a href="http://http://www.mydesignshop.com/success-by-design/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank"><em>Success By Design</em></a>. David can be considered amongst the heavyweights of design, and in the presentation he gave at the conference he shares his insights on designing between websites and apps (and how your information structure needs to change accordingly). <strong><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/information-architecture-for-designers/?lid=JFhwep111314" target="_blank">Download the session here</a></strong> or watch a clip from the presentation below:</p>
<p><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XhgRb7a_hSU" width="500" height="350" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/editors-picks/9-multimedia-resources-information-design/">9 Multimedia Resources for Information Design</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Poster Design Inspiration from Lorenzo Fanton</title>
		<link>http://www.howdesign.com/design-creativity/behind-the-design/poster-design-inspiration-2/</link>
		<comments>http://www.howdesign.com/design-creativity/behind-the-design/poster-design-inspiration-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Nov 2014 12:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Amanda Aszman]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Behind the Design: Amazing Designs, Projects & Designers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured Design News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HOW Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lorenzo Fanton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[poster design awards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[poster design competition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[poster design inspiration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shanghai Orchid Expo 2014]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howdesign.com/?p=200288</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Lorenzo Fanton's design for Shanghai Orchid Expo 2014 is sure to provide you with all the poster design inspiration you need.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/design-creativity/behind-the-design/poster-design-inspiration-2/">Poster Design Inspiration from Lorenzo Fanton</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;re scraping the bottom of the inspiration bucket, <a href="http://www.lorenzofanton.net" target="_blank">Lorenzo Fanton</a>&#8216;s stunning poster design for Shanghai Orchid Expo 2014 is sure to provide you with all the <strong>poster design inspiration</strong> you crave.</p>
<p>We talked with Fanton to get a behind-the-scenes look at the production of the poster.</p>
<h1>Poster Design to Admire</h1>
<div id="attachment_200295" style="width: 638px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/canvas_final_alternative1.jpg"><img class="wp-image-200295 size-full" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/canvas_final_alternative1.jpg" alt="Lorenzo Fanton poster design inspiration" width="628" height="896" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Lorenzo Fanton&#8217;s poster design for Shanghai Orchid Expo 2014</p></div>
<p><em><strong>How long did the project take?<br />
</strong></em>The project didn’t take that long. I spent a entire weekend on it, almost without pause. The idea came while I was waking up on Saturday, I had a vision of an S, a big S. And then I started to connect the point how to make the S. I wanted to create a surreal image that would celebrate both the beautiful orchid flower and the hosting city. So I spent Saturday conceptualizing and shooting the orchid, and then Sunday executing it.<br />
<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/89547840" width="500" height="500" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p><iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/89741270" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p><em><strong><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/prints-guide-to-poster-design?utm_source=%2F%3Flid%3DAAhwbl111314&amp;utm_medium=%2F%3Flid%3DAAhwbl111314&amp;utm_campaign=MDS" target="_blank"><img class="alignright wp-image-200297 size-large" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/posters-cover-1-214x274.jpg" alt="posters-cover-1" width="214" height="274" /></a>What was the project meant to achieve?<br />
</strong></em>I wanted to convey two ideas: one, to celebrate the event, and the other to underline how Chinese culture is seen from outside the country. The festival itself is about one of the most celebrated flowers in China: extremely beautiful and yet very fragile. This dichotomy naturally fits how modern China is seen with its contradictions. You can read the orchid as a contradiction itself. When you look closely, you realize that the orchid has been cut in half (therefore, it’s dead) and it still looks beautiful, which goes back to my point about the Chinese’s dichotomy.</p>
<p><em><strong>What was the main idea behind the design?<br />
</strong></em>I think what I wanted was to create a beautiful image that reflects my previous thought: beauty/ugliness, democracy/autocratic, reality/phony, coherence/incoherence.</p>
<p><em><strong>What was the biggest challenge of the project?<br />
</strong></em>The biggest challenge was to create an image that wouldn’t be too politically oriented but would communicate my point through beauty. An orchid is an amazing flower. I worked with its details (the stem, in this case) to <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/designing-effective-communications?utm_source=%2F%3Flid%3DAAhwbl111314&amp;utm_medium=%2F%3Flid%3DAAhwbl111314&amp;utm_campaign=MDS" target="_blank">convey the message</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/orchid-poster_detail_2-1.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-200292 size-full" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/orchid-poster_detail_2-1.jpg" alt="Lorenzo Fanton poster design inspiration" width="628" height="628" /></a> <a href="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/orchid-poster_detail_1.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-200291 size-full" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/orchid-poster_detail_1.jpg" alt="Lorenzo Fanton poster design inspiration" width="628" height="628" /></a> <a href="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/orchid-poster_detail_3.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-200294 size-full" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/orchid-poster_detail_3.jpg" alt="Lorenzo Fanton poster design inspiration" width="628" height="628" /></a></p>
<div id="attachment_199967" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://app.wizehive.com/apps/HOWPoster2014/?lid=AAhwbl111214" target="_blank"><img class="wp-image-199967 size-full" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014_POSTER_DEC_web_ads_300-x-190.jpg" alt="2014_POSTER_DEC_web_ads_300 x 190" width="300" height="190" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">HOW’s e-commerce store, MyDesignShop.com, is looking for high-quality posters to sell in the store. If you’re planning to enter HOW’s Poster Design Awards and have posters that you would like to sell in MyDesignShop.com, please check the box on the entry form that indicates your interest, and someone from the store will be in touch with you to discuss the details.</p></div>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/design-creativity/behind-the-design/poster-design-inspiration-2/">Poster Design Inspiration from Lorenzo Fanton</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Kanban 101: Managing Web Design Projects the Visual Way</title>
		<link>http://www.howdesign.com/web-design-resources-technology/kanban-101-managing-web-design-projects-visual-way/</link>
		<comments>http://www.howdesign.com/web-design-resources-technology/kanban-101-managing-web-design-projects-visual-way/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Nov 2014 12:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Guest Contributor]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured Interactive]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HOW Interactive: Web Design & Interactive Web Design Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Interactive Tools & Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Website & Responsive Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howdesign.com/?p=200175</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Ready to expose the bottlenecks in your web design process? Try a visual approach with a Kanban board. </p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/web-design-resources-technology/kanban-101-managing-web-design-projects-visual-way/">Kanban 101: Managing Web Design Projects the Visual Way</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Whether you realize it or not, you already have a <a title="Becoming Agile" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/becoming-agile-designer-experts-guide-t5485/?lid=EPhwar111014/" target="_blank">process for web design</a> projects. Maybe you work in-house at a big company, and there are lots of rules and sign-offs every step of the way. Or perhaps you’re part of a small agency team with an ad-hoc process that you’d be hard pressed to describe. No matter where you fall on this spectrum there are big benefits to trying out Kanban, a popular <a title="PM skills" href="http://www.howdesign.com/articles/project-management-skills-every-designer-know/" target="_blank">project management </a>method in the <a title="UX apps " href="http://www.howdesign.com/featured/design-agile-methodology-best-ux-project-management-apps/" target="_blank">agile development </a>world.</p>
<p><strong>So what exactly is Kanban?</strong></p>
<p>It’s a visual way to manage projects, and rather than dictate how you work, it allows you to easily bring to light what’s happening along the way. Kanban typically revolves around a Kanban board. At <a title="Team Gaslight" href="https://teamgaslight.com/" target="_blank">Gaslight</a>, we’ve created a huge one (roughly 6 x 5 feet) on the office wall with chalkboard paint. It’s a simple grid with a row for every project we’re running, and a column for each step of our process (up next, planning, development, design, acceptance, code review, etc.).</p>
<p>We write individual tasks or stories for each project on Post-it notes and move them across the board as we work. There might be a card for our company website, for instance, that says “update work page with new clients.” Or one for an auction site we’re building that says “design admin icons.” But the biggest benefit of our Kanban board isn’t managing tasks, it’s exposing our entire process and making it easy to spot areas where we need to improve.</p>
<div id="attachment_200178" style="width: 638px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.teamgaslight.com/"><img class="size-full wp-image-200178" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/kanban-1.png" alt="Illustration by Lauren Woodrick" width="628" height="391" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Illustration by Lauren Woodrick</p></div>
<p><strong>Ready to give Kanban a try? Here are four steps for getting started:</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ol>
<li>
<h3><strong> Document your current process</strong></h3>
</li>
</ol>
<p>What I love most about Kanban is that you start by changing nothing. To identify those vertical columns on your Kanban board, you need to map out how your current process works. What are the chunks of work and how do they flow through your organization? Get everyone in the same room and talk through what happens: “First, I sketch out my concept then I walk it over to the such-and-such department. Once I get a thumbs up, I start creating a visual mock-up.” That’s three steps, and you need to make each one painfully clear.</p>
<p>It’s crucial to involve everyone from designers, copywriters and creative directors to internal or external clients, so you don’t leave out parts of the process that you simply don’t know about. Include every single step and avoid the temptation to document the process you wish you had. For starters, it’s easier to arrive at team buy-in for Kanban if you don’t change your actual work process. Once you start using this visual system, your whole team will be able to see where you need change because you’ll reveal information that previously was hidden to at least some of the team.</p>
<ol start="2">
<li>
<h3><strong>Right-size the work + minimize work in progress </strong></h3>
</li>
</ol>
<p>These are the two most important things I can tell you about running projects and reaping the greatest value from Kanban. As you start putting cards or post-its on your Kanban board, you’ll need to focus on right-sizing your work or breaking down your project to-do list into small, meaningful chunks. A good card might be “sketch out three different concepts for the homepage design.” Or maybe “test the buying process with real users.” They should be well-defined tasks that move across your Kanban board at a reasonable speed and make it easy for you to prioritize the most important thing to do next.</p>
<p>Once you’ve started breaking down your <a title="Strategic Web Designer" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/the-strategic-web-designer-grouped" target="_blank">web design project </a>into right-sized tasks, it’s crucial to always minimize work in progress (WIP). Nobody is as good at multitasking as they think they are. Each column on your Kanban board should have an explicit limit on the amount of work. You might decide, for example, that you shouldn’t have more than three cards in the design column. Setting these limits is somewhat arbitrary, but you should err the low side. Over time it’s OK to adjust these WIP limits as you gain knowledge about your process.</p>
<p>It’s also important to think about the WIP of the whole system and not just one column on the board. Just because zero cards are in the design column doesn’t necessarily mean you can pull another one into that process state. There might be four cards in the revision column, for instance, that need design attention. Focus on a holistic view of your Kanban board.</p>
<ol start="3">
<li>
<h3><strong> Review your Kanban board daily</strong></h3>
</li>
</ol>
<p>In the tech and startup world, the idea of a daily standup is becoming cliche, but there’s still a lot of value to this practice if you stay focused and set a strict time limit. At Gaslight, the whole company stands around our big Kanban chalkboard at 11:45 a.m. each day, and we spend no more than 10 minutes running through 8 to 11 projects. Not everyone in the company talks, but we go down the board row by row and focus on movement. What’s changed? What hasn’t? How much did we finish? Is anything stuck?</p>
<p>I love getting the whole team together around a tangible board, because it makes this <a title="Jim Krause" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/visual-design-with-jim-krause-collection" target="_blank">visual system </a>tactile. But you can also create digital Kanban boards with software tools like <a title="Trello" href="https://trello.com/" target="_blank">Trello</a>, a service we use in addition to our physical board. Both these tools allow us to expose bottlenecks or areas that need attention. We might discover that the developers on one team are outpacing the designer, and a designer from a different project might chime in to say she has extra time to help. You might realize you have six different cards stuck on the creative director’s desk for approval. Or that your designer has some extra time this week to take on something new.</p>
<p>It’s OK to have bottlenecks. These create slack somewhere else in the system. Those developers outpacing the designer might have time to reflect on their work process or learn something new. Other people might realize they need to focus and re-prioritize. And some folks may be able to pitch in and clear bottlenecks.</p>
<ol start="4">
<li>
<h3><strong>Reflect and adapt</strong></h3>
</li>
</ol>
<p>The whole point of a visual process is to see what needs changing and continuously improve the way you work. As a team, you need to make a commitment to becoming better together. Making the process visual will help you find the areas that need attention. Don’t be afraid to make changes as you discover problems, but don’t make too many all at once. Even small adjustments can have a big impact&#8211;some that you didn’t expect.</p>
<p><strong>There’s a lot more to Kanban than I had room to cover in this article,</strong> but luckily, there are many good resources for further study. I recommend David Anderson’s <a title="Kanban" href="http://amzn.com/B0057H2M70" target="_blank">Kanban</a> book and Jeff Patton’s article <a title="Kanban Oversimplified" href="http://www.agileproductdesign.com/blog/2009/kanban_over_simplified.html" target="_blank">Kanban Oversimplified</a>. As you try out Kanban for your projects, you’ll likely discover subtle ways to implement it in the best way for you, your company and your clients.</p>
<p><strong>About the Author</strong></p>
<p><em><a href="http://teamgaslight.com"><img class="alignleft wp-image-200179 size-large" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/dougalcorn-274x274.jpg" alt="dougalcorn" width="274" height="274" /></a>Doug Alcorn is a Co-Founder and Developer at <a title="Gaslight" href="https://teamgaslight.com/" target="_blank">Gaslight</a>, a Cincinnati design and development shop that turns business obstacles into opportunities. On a day-to-day basis, you might find him collaborating with clients, recruiting new talent, keeping the Gaslight culture awesome, or building apps in Ruby and JavaScript. Doug has given talks at QCMerge, CodeMash, Wicked Good Ruby, Burlington Ruby Conference, and others.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<hr />
<p>Want to learn more about agile methodologies for your team? Check out the HOW Expert Guide, <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/becoming-agile-designer-experts-guide-t5485" target="_blank"><strong>Becoming an Agile Designer</strong></a>, and explore how project management systems and tools can enable your team to release work more rapidly and more often.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/web-design-resources-technology/kanban-101-managing-web-design-projects-visual-way/">Kanban 101: Managing Web Design Projects the Visual Way</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>How to Master Communication + Messaging</title>
		<link>http://www.howdesign.com/featured/how-interactive-communication-messaging/</link>
		<comments>http://www.howdesign.com/featured/how-interactive-communication-messaging/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Nov 2014 18:58:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Erin Prus]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HOW Interactive: Web Design & Interactive Web Design Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Website & Responsive Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HIDC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HOW Interactive Design Conference]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonathon Colman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sara Wachter-Boettcher]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howdesign.com/?p=200258</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Designer or dev? Good communication lies at the heart of good design. Find out how to achieve more fluency and understanding at HIDC San Francisco. </p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/featured/how-interactive-communication-messaging/">How to Master Communication + Messaging</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="p1">As it turns out, designers and developers spend a lot of waking hours going back and forth, trying to figure out how, exactly, to execute a design properly and to the client&#8217;s satisfaction. We may spend time collaborating and trying to understand the roles of those around us: <em>What do they need? Where are they coming from to the project? Why do they think the way they do?</em></p>
<p class="p1">The <a title="CC update tools" href="http://www.howdesign.com/web-design-resources-technology/adobe-creative-cloud-update-2014/" target="_blank">tools</a> and approaches we choose to use in our daily <a title="workflows" href="http://www.howdesign.com/featured/beyond-waterfall-methodology-exploring-collaborative-workflows/" target="_blank">workflow</a> mean a lot in the grand scheme of our work. Because they&#8217;re ultimately the tools used to communicate our intended message – through our design.</p>
<p class="p2">Whether you&#8217;re a designer or developer (or a hybrid model), you&#8217;ll be more productive (and successful) if you can get on the same page with communication.</p>
<p class="p2"><em>So, what&#8217;s the first step?</em><strong> </strong>Achieving understanding. Sounds easy, but sometimes we lack the words and perspective needed to see where that developer, <a title="Intro to UX Design" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/intro-to-ux-design/?lid=EPhwar111014/" target="_blank">UX designer</a> or <a title="Project Man" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/design-derailed//?lid=EPhwar111014/" target="_blank">project manager</a> is coming from. It&#8217;s deciding to engage with the developer&#8217;s point of view, (or perhaps the <a title="Visual Design" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/visual-design/?lid=EPhwar111014/" target="_blank">visual piece</a>, in addition to the code) &#8230;</p>
<p class="p2"><strong><em>How does this happen? </em>Through selecting the best approaches and interactive tools to help us effectively communicate – with ourselves, our clients and our audiences.</strong></p>
<p class="p2"><img class="size-full wp-image-200357 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/shutterstock_201365738.jpg" alt="shutterstock_201365738" width="700" height="430" /></p>
<p class="p2" style="text-align: center;"><em>photo from Shutterstock</em></p>
<h2 class="p2">Where Effective Communication Reigns</h2>
<p>When we launched the <a title="HIDC" href="http://www.howinteractiveconference.com" target="_blank">HOW Interactive Design Conference</a> in 2011, we were motivated by our success of <a title="HDL" href="http://www.howdesignlive.com" target="_blank">HOW Design Live</a> and the increasing need to serve web designers and help folks make the transition to the web and digital products. We were driven to help designers learn the tools and strategies to better communicate their needs and skills across the evolving tech and media– and resist throwing over the proverbial wall and actually engage the other pieces of the puzzle.</p>
<h2>Because good design is always about communication.</h2>
<p>Now, in 2014, we&#8217;ve expanded our repertoire of shows to include, not one, but three HIDC events–because we know that designers remain in various transitional phases of their careers. Whether you&#8217;re a seasoned print designer looking to dip you toe into the digital world, or your a working web designer who needs to know more about crafting responsive websites, our interactive conference meets you where you are and helps to close the gap of ill communication.</p>
<p class="p2"><strong>As you interact with team members, clients and industry experts, and the importance of common ground and understanding continues to resurface, consider how you can do your part in learning how to talk to your fellow coworkers with greater fluency.</strong> If we can&#8217;t unite our design teams on how to communicate with each other, the processes to implement and the tools to use, chances are we&#8217;re not giving the client the best product we can produce.</p>
<p class="p2">At the <a title="HIDC" href="http://www.howinteractiveconference.com/" target="_blank">HOW Interactive Design Conference</a> taking place in the heart of emerging tech, San Francisco, you&#8217;ll hear from the industry&#8217;s heroes on how to communicate with the developer over your shoulder. Why does the developer in the cube next to you resist mocking up designs in Photoshop? You&#8217;ll find out why understanding her language is a critical step toward greater success.</p>
<p class="p2"><strong>Communication (or the lack thereof) plays a significant role in the world of web design.</strong> BUT, that doesn&#8217;t mean that collaboration is easy or makes for smooth workflow. That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s important to look beyond yourself and your immediate surroundings for a professional experience you can count on to deliver the expertise you need to work better.</p>
<p class="p2"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-198339" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sara-w-b_F.jpg" alt="sara-w-b_F" width="480" height="274" /></p>
<p>Choosing the right event can seem confusing or daunting, especially when the market for web design events is saturated and, in some cases, very discipline specific.</p>
<h2>At HOW Interactive Design Conference, you can count on:</h2>
<ul>
<li>A better understanding of responsive web design, right from the source himself, Ethan Marcotte</li>
<li>Compelling case studies from design superstars who want to walk you through their successes and failures at leading brands</li>
<li>Sessions on design process, data, engagement and more</li>
<li>The legacy of HOW&#8217;s excellence that permeates every corner of the event</li>
<li>Hours of tactical takeaways to bring back to your desk and try out in your next design project</li>
<li>Access to speakers and attendees who understand where you are and what challenges you face</li>
<li>Content strategy dreamteam with Jonathon Colman and Sara Wachter-Boettcher to address content and communication from various angles &#8211; helping to make your daily exchanges with colleagues and clients a lot less awkward and your design strategy better</li>
</ul>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-199237" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/jonathon-colman628-314x274.jpg" alt="content strategy" width="314" height="274" /></p>
<blockquote><p><em>Content, architecture, interaction design and <a title="intro to UX" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/intro-to-ux-design/?lid=EPhwar100814/" target="_blank">user experience</a> need to work together to solve problems as a team.</em> In the best experiences, including many of the ones we use every day, it’s often hard to tell where design ends and content begins. That’s where the magic happens. -<strong> Jonathon Colman, content strategist at Facebook</strong></p></blockquote>
<p><strong>If you&#8217;ve been on the fence, it&#8217;s not too late to grab a seat at HOW Interactive Design Conference San Francisco. </strong></p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-143853" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Header%2B4.2HIDC-443x274.png" alt="HIDC" width="443" height="274" /></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/featured/how-interactive-communication-messaging/">How to Master Communication + Messaging</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>9 Enchanting Projects Using the Pantone Matching System</title>
		<link>http://www.howdesign.com/editors-picks/9-enchanting-projects-using-pantone-matching-system/</link>
		<comments>http://www.howdesign.com/editors-picks/9-enchanting-projects-using-pantone-matching-system/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Nov 2014 20:51:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jessica Farris]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Editor's Picks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Color]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pantone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pantone matching system]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howdesign.com/?p=200185</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Check out these 9 projects using the Pantone Matching System in unique and creative ways. From posters to street art, these projects are enchanting.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/editors-picks/9-enchanting-projects-using-pantone-matching-system/">9 Enchanting Projects Using the Pantone Matching System</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The <a href="http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/pantone.aspx?pg=19970" target="_blank">Pantone Matching System</a> is the cornerstone of color accuracy in design. The industry standard of color keys, the Pantone Matching System has allowed designers to ensure the <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-color-bridge-coated-guide-t4368/?lid=JFhwep111014" target="_blank">integrity of the color</a> in their work for decades.</p>
<p>Some designers and creatives, however, look <a href="http://www.howdesignuniversity.com/courses/beyond-the-color-chart-bootcamp" target="_blank"><strong>beyond the color chart</strong></a> when utilizing the Pantone Matching System.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-color-bridge-coated-guide-t4368/?lid=JFhwep111014" target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-200189 alignright" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/T4368-500-212x190.jpg" alt="T4368-500" width="212" height="190" /></a>The projects below take the <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-color-bridge-coated-guide-t4368/?lid=JFhwep111014" target="_blank">Pantone Matching System</a> to the next level, showcasing out-of-the-box—and, frankly—pretty meta approaches to color matching.</p>
<p>Have you created something amazing with the Pantone Matching System or Pantone color chips? Let us know in the comments below.</p>
<p>Find all the Pantone resources you need to create your own stunning Pantone projects at the lowest prices in <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-color-bridge-coated-guide-t4368/?lid=JFhwep111014" target="_blank">MyDesignShop</a>, including the <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-color-bridge-coated-guide-t4368/?lid=JFhwep111014" target="_blank"><strong>Pantone Plus Series Color Bridge Coated set</strong></a> (pictured right). Scroll to the bottom of this post to see more Pantone resources available in the shop.<strong><br />
</strong></p>
<h1>9 Enchanting Projects Using the Pantone Matching System</h1>
<h2><strong>Pantone Beer Packaging by Txaber</strong></h2>
<p><a href="http://txaber.net/beer-colors/" target="_blank">http://txaber.net/beer-colors/</a></p>
<p>This beer packaging concept by the creative agency <a href="http://txaber.net/" target="_blank">Txaber</a> pairs the color of the beer itself with its corresponding Pantone color—4975 C Stout and 1595 C Golden Ale, for example. See more of the packaging concepts at <a href="http://txaber.net/beer-colors/" target="_blank">Txaber.net</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://txaber.net/beer-colors/" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-200188 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Todas_7701.png" alt="Todas_7701" width="500" height="765" /></a><em>Match the color of your favorite beverage with the <a title="PANTONE® Plus Series Reference Library" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-reference-library-t4380?lid=JFhwep111014" target="_blank">PANTONE® Plus Series Reference Library.</a></em></p>
<h2><strong>Pantone as Pixels: Color Mosaics by Txaber</strong></h2>
<p><a href="http://txaber.net/pantone-as-pixel/" target="_blank">http://txaber.net/pantone-as-pixel/</a></p>
<p>Txaber also created these amazing color mosaic posters that use Pantone color chips as pixels. See all of the color mosaics <a href="http://txaber.net/pantone-as-pixel/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://txaber.net/pantone-as-pixel" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-200197 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/P_inicio_web4.png" alt="P_inicio_web4" width="500" height="667" /></a><a href="http://txaber.net/pantone-as-pixel" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-200196 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Marilyn_770.png" alt="Marilyn_770" width="500" height="619" /><img class="size-full wp-image-200194 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Mario_bros_770.png" alt="Mario_bros_770" width="500" height="642" /></a>From Txaber&#8217;s website:</p>
<p>&#8220;This work consists of constructing images from Pantone modules (color and its text reference). This unit is treated as a pixel. The process is to convert the images into color mosaics, then each color is replaced one by one by the corresponding pantone module. To show this process I have made ​​several typographic images and known artwork and logos. It is a laborious process, but I think the result is interesting.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>Are your poster designs as good as these? Enter them into the <a href="http://www.howdesign.com/design-competitions/poster-design-awards" target="_blank"><strong>HOW Poster Design Awards</strong></a> to earn the recognition you deserve. We&#8217;ll even sell your designs in our shop if you choose!</em></p>
<h2><strong>Pantone Food Match</strong></h2>
<p><a href="http://www.griottes.fr/choose-your-color" target="_blank">http://www.griottes.fr/choose-your-color</a></p>
<p>The French website <a href="http://www.griottes.fr/choose-your-color" target="_blank">Griottes: Palette Culinaire</a> features culinary color palettes with stunning photography. This display of fruits and veggies inspired by the Pantone Matching System is lovely. <a href="http://www.griottes.fr/" target="_blank">See more from Griottes here.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.griottes.fr/choose-your-color" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-200201 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/griottes11.jpg" alt="griottes11" width="650" height="964" /></a></p>
<h2><strong>Tiny PMS Match by Inka Mathew<br />
</strong></h2>
<p><a href="http://tinypmsmatch.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">http://tinypmsmatch.tumblr.com/</a></p>
<p>We&#8217;ve featured Inka Mathew&#8217;s work (more at <a href="http://www.greeninkstudio.com/" target="_blank">Green Ink Studios</a>) <a href="http://www.howdesign.com/design-creativity/top-10-sites-for-designers/top-10-websites-designers-june-2014/" target="_blank">before</a>, but we just can get over how adorable her Tiny PMS Match blog is. Mathew uses the Pantone Matching System to pair tiny objects with Pantone color chips in their corresponding colors. It&#8217;s tiny and adorable. See more pairings at <a href="http://tinypmsmatch.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Tiny PMS Match</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://tinypmsmatch.tumblr.com/" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-200187 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/tumblr_n9mxeqhoWv1suaeyxo1_1280.jpg" alt="tumblr_n9mxeqhoWv1suaeyxo1_1280" width="802" height="805" /></a><a href="http://tinypmsmatch.tumblr.com/" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-200186 alignnone" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/tumblr_n8m6c81HVR1suaeyxo1_1280.jpg" alt="tumblr_n8m6c81HVR1suaeyxo1_1280" width="795" height="768" /></a><em>Try matching your own everyday items using the <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-solid-chips-coated-uncoated-2-book-set-t4371" target="_blank">Pantone Plus Series Solid Chips 2 Book Set</a>.</em></p>
<h2><strong>Pantone Holiday Poster by Neil Brown</strong></h2>
<p>Designer <a href="http://www.neilbrowndesign.com/" target="_blank">Neil Brown</a> created this stunning <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/11782051/Holiday-poster" target="_blank">Pantone holiday poster</a>. From Turkey Day to New Year&#8217;s Resolutions, this poster design offers a healthy dose of humor and more than a little holiday cheer. <a href="http://www.behance.net/neilgbrown" target="_blank">See Neil&#8217;s Behance gallery here</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/11782051/Holiday-poster" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-200204 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/b4ed76a730ecdef49a13fe107e952f23.png" alt="b4ed76a730ecdef49a13fe107e952f23" width="600" height="899" /></a></p>
<h2><strong>Pantone business cards by Sam Winslow</strong></h2>
<p>Web designer and developer <a href="http://samwinslow.me/" target="_blank">Sam Winslow</a> created these personal <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/14773803/Personal-Business-Card-Branding" target="_blank">business card designs</a> based on Pantone swatches. <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/14773803/Personal-Business-Card-Branding" target="_blank">See more of the design process here.</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/14773803/Personal-Business-Card-Branding" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-200205 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/ff30c26b7f469b9dfa18461e2fd97068.jpg" alt="ff30c26b7f469b9dfa18461e2fd97068" width="600" height="337" /></a><em>See more stunning business card designs <a href="http://www.howdesign.com/how-design-blog/best-business-cards" target="_blank">here</a>.</em></p>
<h2><strong>Pantone Street Art project by Michael Ifland</strong></h2>
<p><a href="http://www.michaelifland.com/" target="_blank">Michael Ifland</a> created an amazing <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/189714/PANTONE-Street-Project" target="_blank">street art project</a> in which he placed Pantone swatch-inspired frames around items he found on the street or in nature to create awesome street art that smacks of design sensibility. <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/189714/PANTONE-Street-Project" target="_blank">See more images from the project here.</a></p>
<p><img class="size-full wp-image-200206 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/850311235777826.jpg" alt="850311235777826" width="600" height="449" /> <img class="size-full wp-image-200207 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/850311235778516.jpg" alt="850311235778516" width="600" height="803" /> <img class="size-full wp-image-200208 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/850311235778101.jpg" alt="850311235778101" width="600" height="836" /> <img class="size-full wp-image-200209 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/850311235778019.jpg" alt="850311235778019" width="600" height="448" /></p>
<h2><strong>DIY Pantone Chip Magnets by Jessica Jones<br />
</strong></h2>
<p>Graphic and textile designer Jessica Jones created these sweet <a href="http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2011/03/diy-pantone-chip-magnets.html" target="_blank">DIY pantone chip magnets</a> using spare chips from the <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-solid-chips-coated-uncoated-2-book-set-t4371?lid=JFhwep111014" target="_blank">Pantone Plus Series Solid Chips Set</a> for her refrigerator. Learn how to make them at Jessica&#8217;s blog, <a href="http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2011/03/diy-pantone-chip-magnets.html" target="_blank">How About Orange</a>.</p>
<p><img class="size-full wp-image-200210 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/DIY-pantone-chip-magnets.jpg" alt="DIY-pantone-chip-magnets" width="400" height="270" /></p>
<h2><strong>DIY Pantone Advent Calendar</strong></h2>
<p>Brit + Co. created this lovely <a href="http://www.brit.co/pantone-advent-calendar/" target="_blank">Pantone Advent calendar</a> featuring one Pantone color per day. Learn how to make your own <a href="http://www.brit.co/pantone-advent-calendar/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-200203" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Advent-2-Main.jpg" alt="Advent-2-Main" width="1100" height="733" /></p>
<p><em>Share your festive designs—Pantone-related and otherwise—in the <a href="http://www.printmag.com/design-competitions/print-celebrates-design/" target="_blank">Print Celebrates Design</a> competition, a competition for your gifts, invitations, cards and other festive designs.</em></p>
<hr />
<h3>Feeling inspired? Create your own Pantone-inspired designs using these sets from MyDesignShop, where you&#8217;ll find the lowest prices on Pantone:</h3>
<div id="attachment_200212" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-solid-color-set-coated-uncoated-t4374/?lid=JFhwep111014" target="_blank"><img class="wp-image-200212 size-full" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/T4374-500.jpg" alt="Pantone Plus Series Solid Color Set" width="500" height="331" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-solid-color-set-coated-uncoated-t4374/?lid=JFhwep111014" target="_blank">Pantone Plus Series Solid Color Set</a></p></div>
<div id="attachment_200214" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-portable-guide-studio-t4379/?lid=JFhwep111014"><img class="size-full wp-image-200214" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/T4379-500.jpg" alt="Plus Series Portable Guide Studio" width="500" height="431" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-portable-guide-studio-t4379/?lid=JFhwep111014" target="_blank">Plus Series Portable Guide Studio</a></p></div>
<div id="attachment_200213" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-color-bridge-coated-uncoated-set-t4377/?lid=JFhwep111014" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-200213" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/T4377_1-5001.jpg" alt="Pantone Plus Series Color Bridge Coated &amp; Uncoated Set" width="500" height="652" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/pantone-plus-series-color-bridge-coated-uncoated-set-t4377/?lid=JFhwep111014" target="_blank">Pantone Plus Series Color Bridge Coated &amp; Uncoated Set</a></p></div>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/editors-picks/9-enchanting-projects-using-pantone-matching-system/">9 Enchanting Projects Using the Pantone Matching System</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Are you a favorite? Do people bookmark you?</title>
		<link>http://www.howdesign.com/creative-freelancer-blog/favorite-people-bookmark/</link>
		<comments>http://www.howdesign.com/creative-freelancer-blog/favorite-people-bookmark/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Nov 2014 20:18:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ilise Benun]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Creative Freelancer Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design Business Clients: Communication & Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured Freelance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Self Promotion for Graphic Design & Designers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[client relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[communication tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[interpersonal skills]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howdesign.com/?p=200193</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Here’s a piece by Ilise Benun explaining tips to make clients want to "bookmark" you for future projects.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/creative-freelancer-blog/favorite-people-bookmark/">Are you a favorite? Do people bookmark you?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2><a href="www.linkedin.com/in/ilisebenun/"><img class="size-full wp-image-131678 alignright" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/ilise-new-thumb1.jpg" alt="ilise-new-thumb" width="200" height="171" /></a>In our ever-more-technical society, <em>usability </em>usually refers to software. What if we considered our own usability when it came to <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/the-graphic-designers-guide-to-clients/?lid=JFhwcfb111114" target="_blank">self-promotion</a> and relationship-building? Are we easy to work with? Are we making people’s lives better?</h2>
<p>With this thought in mind, I’m reviving an article I wrote years ago for <em>User Experience Magazine</em>, <a href="http://uxpamagazine.org/personal-usability/" target="_blank"><em>Personal Usability: How Can We Make Ourselves More Usable to Others?</em></a> It might be <em>even more </em>relevant today. Here’s an excerpt explaining tips to make <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/the-graphic-designers-guide-to-clients/?lid=JFhwcfb111114" target="_blank">clients</a> want to &#8220;bookmark&#8221; you for future projects:</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter wp-image-200259 size-full" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/shutterstock_215414029.jpg" alt="Do clients bookmark you?" width="1000" height="667" /></p>
<p><em>So how do we develop and sustain human relationships in this increasingly complex and fragmented environment? I think the answer is by being more &#8220;usable.&#8221; </em></p>
<p><em>Here are a few simple ideas to play with:</em></p>
<ol>
<li><strong><em>Do you respond? </em></strong><em>A usable website tells me that it has received and is processing my information. What about you? When someone gives you information, do you take a moment to respond? Or are you silent because you just don’t have time? Could you be more usable by sending a simple message that says, “Got it, thanks.” when someone sends you a file? A message like that always puts my mind at ease.</em></li>
<li><strong><em>Do you remember personal information? </em></strong><em>A usable website uses cookies and other technology to remember my name when I return to it. What about you? Do you remember other people’s names? Or do you say, “I just don’t remember names,” as if it’s genetic. Well, you can remember names and it will mean a lot to others, making you more usable.</em></li>
</ol>
<p><a href="http://uxpamagazine.org/personal-usability/" target="_blank"><i>Read the rest to learn how to remember names, and more!</i></a></p>
<p><em>Image courtesy <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/" target="_blank">Shutterstock</a>.</em></p>
<hr />
<p>Here are more resources for improving client relations:</p>
<ul>
<li class="product-name"><a title="The Graphic Designer's Guide to Clients" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/the-graphic-designers-guide-to-clients/?lid=JFhwcfb111114" target="_blank">The Graphic Designer&#8217;s Guide to Clients</a> by Ellen Shapiro</li>
<li class="product-name"><a title="40 Better Ways to Work with Interactive Clients - OnDemand Design Webcast" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/40-better-ways-to-work-with-interactive-clients-in-2013-design-tutorial/?lid=JFhwcfb111114" target="_blank">40 Better Ways to Work with Interactive Clients &#8211; OnDemand Design Webcast</a></li>
<li class="product-name"><a title="HOW Singles: 5 Steps to Finding the Right Clients" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/how-singles-5-steps-to-finding-the-right-clients/?lid=JFhwcfb111114" target="_blank">HOW Singles: 5 Steps to Finding the Right Clients</a></li>
<li class="product-name"><a title="How to Seduce Your Clients " href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/how-to-seduce-your-clients/?lid=JFhwcfb111114" target="_blank">How to Seduce Your Clients </a></li>
</ul>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/creative-freelancer-blog/favorite-people-bookmark/">Are you a favorite? Do people bookmark you?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>How to Use Scrum for Your Team and for Print Projects</title>
		<link>http://www.howdesign.com/featured-in-house/how-to-use-scrum-for-your-team-and-for-print-projects/</link>
		<comments>http://www.howdesign.com/featured-in-house/how-to-use-scrum-for-your-team-and-for-print-projects/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Nov 2014 12:30:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jason Tselentis]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured InHouse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HOW Interactive: Web Design & Interactive Web Design Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[InHouse Designer Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[agile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[agile methodology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[complacent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[in-house designers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[in-house teams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[modified scrum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[print design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[print projects]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scrum]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howdesign.com/?p=199653</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Learn how you can use a looser version of SCRUM, the agile methodology for computer programmers, software developers, and web or app developers, to organize your in-house team's projects, including print projects. </p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/featured-in-house/how-to-use-scrum-for-your-team-and-for-print-projects/">How to Use Scrum for Your Team and for Print Projects</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Working as an in-house designer puts you in the same place as your client, and most (if not all) of the content you need. But don&#8217;t let this closeness allow you to become <strong>complacent</strong>. One of the biggest mistakes an in-house designer can make is having a laissez-faire attitude: You allow things to run their own course without any management, scheduled communication or coordination.</p>
<p>Because you, as an in-house designer, are so close to your colleagues, client, and content, you should have a detailed plan and scheduled meetings. This is where <strong>Scrum</strong> comes in handy.</p>
<p><strong>Scrum</strong> has been primarily used as an <a href="http://www.howdesign.com/how-magazine/moving-beyond-waterfall-agile-development-design/" target="_blank"><strong>agile methodology</strong></a> for computer programmers, software developers, and web or app developers. Jeff Sutherland and Jeff McKenna, as well as Ken Schwaber, Mike Smith, and Chris Martin were all key players who developed and made Scrum what it is today.</p>
<p>Within the <a href="http://www.howdesign.com/featured/design-agile-methodology-best-ux-project-management-apps/" target="_blank">agile</a> world of releasing early and often, getting feedback and revising and iterating, Scrum allows team members to identify what is needed, keep track of what they&#8217;re doing and what problems they may face, all while checking in with one another on a regular basis to move the work forward. What&#8217;s most important is to release early and often, meaning get the work out the door, and apply updates, feature additions, fixes, and improvements frequently.</p>
<div id="attachment_200138" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/shutterstock_216220255.jpg"><img class="wp-image-200138 size-full" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/shutterstock_216220255.jpg" alt="shutterstock_216220255" width="600" height="400" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"><em>Photo from <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-216220255/stock-photo-group-of-business-people-working-in-the-office.html?src=csl_recent_image-1">Shutterstock</a></em></p></div>
<p>Many different &#8220;flavors&#8221; of Scrum, sometimes deemed <strong>modified Scrum</strong>, have been created and instituted to match the organization where the system is used.</p>
<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #6a5acd;">But no matter how you Scrum, at it&#8217;s core, Scrum is an iterative and incremental approach to design: You take things step by step, and revise frequently to improve quality.</span><br />
<span style="color: ##6a5acd;"><br />
</span></h1>
<p><strong>Philosophically speaking, Scrum requires:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Teamwork and open communication.</strong> The whole team shares and believes in the definition of what&#8217;s needed and what the goal is.</li>
<li><strong>Assessment.</strong> Work is reviewed, critiqued, pulled apart, put back together, and completed on time and in order to get something out the door.</li>
<li><strong>Change.</strong> The team becomes a system comprised of change agents who stay on task, adapt to challenges and difficulties, and &#8220;go with the flow.&#8221; You stay loyal to a minimum viable product.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you&#8217;re doing <strong>in-house work</strong> on websites, web apps, and apps, you should use Scrum, to not only stay in touch with your colleagues, client, content, and users, but also so you can advance your digital projects further and further along. Stagnant digital design usually means &#8220;dead&#8221; digital design, and Scrum is tantamount to keeping things updated, living, breathing, lively, and functional.</p>
<p>But if your primary design tasks or your only design tasks require you to produce printed products, then you might benefit from a looser Scrum methodology, one that&#8217;s customized for your needs. B<strong>ut what does Scrum look like?</strong></p>
<h1>A Scrum Overview</h1>
<ol>
<ol>
<li>The Organization is the in-house company</li>
<li>The Organization needs a Project/Product to ship in 30 days or less (2-4 weeks in a digital design/development cycle)</li>
<li>The Project/Product Owner prioritizes the Product needs, in what&#8217;s called a Backlog</li>
<li>The Team, comprised of subject matter experts, will get 30 days or less in order to release something</li>
<li>The Scrum Master referees and coaches, and ensures that the Team follows the Scrum rules</li>
<li>A Sprint requires the Team to complete one item from the Backlog, with a textbook Sprint being 30 days, however, some teams break up the Sprint into multiple cycles</li>
<li>The Team meets every day to report on their progress, this is called a Daily Scrum</li>
<li>A Sprint can last 2-4 weeks, but the Team still meets each day, holding the Daily Scrum</li>
<li>Holding a Daily Scrum as a &#8220;stand-up meeting&#8221; requires the whole Team to meet standing up for the whole meeting; they share reports, tracks progress, and state the next component they need to work on</li>
<li>At the end of the Sprint, a review happens, the work is released and the work completed is logged into a Retrospective, a journal that tracks everything about that one Sprint</li>
<li>A new Sprint begins, and the Team takes on another task from the Scrum Backlog, to prepare for another release that will enhance, modify, and ideally improve the product</li>
</ol>
</ol>
<p><em>Read more on <a href="http://www.howdesign.com/editors-picks/dont-go-chasing-waterfalls-agile-web-design/" target="_blank">Agile Web Design</a>. Or visit <a href="http://www.howdesignuniversity.com/" target="_blank">HOW Design University</a> and learn new skills in everything from <a href="http://www.howdesignuniversity.com/courses/breakthrough-website-design-success/?lid=MMhwbl110714" target="_blank">web design</a> to <a href="http://www.howdesignuniversity.com/courses/beyond-the-color-chart-bootcamp/?lid=MMhwbl110714" target="_blank">color</a>. </em></p>
<p>That&#8217;s Scrum in a nutshell, and in a very basic nutshell at that. That framework could be adapted for building a print-based product, by positioning in-house staff members within that framework, and expanding or contracting duties and processes. But doing so would make it less like Scrum, and more like, well, something else, perhaps a cousin&#8217;s cousin&#8217;s cousin of Scrum. Nevertheless, here&#8217;s what it looks like.</p>
<div id="attachment_200141" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img class="wp-image-200141 size-full" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/shutterstock_219099973.jpg" alt="shutterstock_219099973" width="600" height="400" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><em>Photo from <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-219099973/stock-photo-colored-pencils-with-pencil-shavings-and-pencil-sharpener.html?src=csl_recent_image-1 ">Shutterstock</a></em></p></div>
<h1>Modified Scrum for a Quarterly Print Product</h1>
<ol>
<ol>
<ol>
<ol>
<li>The Organization needs a direct mailer, catalog, brochure, or other printed product to ship once every 3 months of the year</li>
<li>The Project/Product Owner prioritizes the product needs, for the 1st quarter, as well as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters, building this into the Backlog</li>
<li>The Team, comprised of a marketing manager, copy writer and designer will get 30 days or less to release something for the 1st quarter</li>
<li>The Scrum Master, who in this case, would be somebody outside of the Team, such as an art director, creative director, or other senior level employee, acts as a referee to ensure that everyone involved in the Project is following the Scrum rules, and staying on task</li>
<li>The Team meets every day to report on progress during their stand-up meetings, identifying what part of the printed design they are working on and what they will work on next, as well as any issues getting in the way of their work</li>
<li>At the end of each Sprint, in this case each week, a review happens, the work is prepared for printing and the work completed is logged into a Retrospective</li>
<li>A new Sprint begins, with a new component of the project, and the Team takes on another task, perhaps other pages within the printed product; all this time, they are still working on the print product for the 1st quarter</li>
<li>At the end of the four weeks, the entire project is done, shipped to the printer, and out the door, in effect, the 1st quarter is closed out</li>
<li>Once in the consumer&#8217;s hands, marketing uses one or more customer relationship management techniques to gain insight about the printed design&#8217;s reception, use, and usefulness; this can include social media, email, telemarketing, or even re-directing people from the printed product to a niche microsite, to capture their feedback, and poll the users</li>
<li>Data collected from the users gets reviewed and vetted by the Project Owner to determine what advances, changes, or edits should be used for subsequent quarterly iterations of the publications</li>
<li>A new set of Sprints begin for the subsequent quarterly publications</li>
</ol>
</ol>
</ol>
</ol>
<p>Using Scrum in this manner is best as a starting point, and the above process could be modified even further, such that a printer is involved throughout the process, so you can have them produce color proofs during each Sprint. This would give you proofs once per week for color matching, and you&#8217;d have quality assurance before sending everything to the printer.</p>
<p>While the above method forces team members to communicate more often, it may be too often for some in-house teams. If that&#8217;s the case, change the meeting frequency. <strong>Adaptation</strong> for the benefit of the team, as well as the organization&#8217;s and stakeholder&#8217;s audience and consumers is key. So make it work for you, not against you.</p>
<p><strong>Modifying Scrum</strong> in this way may seem unorthodox to some purists, but by adapting Scrum for an in-house team&#8217;s design needs (whether for print or digital projects), staff members now have a system to get their work done. And even a unorthodox system is better than no system at all.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.howinteractiveconference.com/ehome/index.php?eventid=89552&amp;tabid=191692&amp;#tab1" target="_blank"><img class="wp-image-146556 aligncenter" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/unnamed-11.jpg" alt="HIDC_banner+crowd" width="437" height="233" /></a><a href="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/8ad679c477ea42c2bf007f5fc6d3052d.gif"><br />
</a>Learn even more about interactive design and how these theories and practices can make you and your team more organized, relevant and better. Don&#8217;t miss the San Francisco <strong><a href="http://www.howinteractiveconference.com/ehome/index.php?eventid=89552&amp;tabid=191692&amp;#tab1" target="_blank">HOW Interactive Design Conference</a> </strong>on<strong> </strong>November 17-19. Guided by working practitioners, you’ll explore new tools and strategies to take home to your design practice. Short on time? Check out the one-day pass option.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/featured-in-house/how-to-use-scrum-for-your-team-and-for-print-projects/">How to Use Scrum for Your Team and for Print Projects</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Team Sketch Studios for Better Interface Design</title>
		<link>http://www.howdesign.com/web-design-resources-technology/team-sketch-studios-better-interface-design/</link>
		<comments>http://www.howdesign.com/web-design-resources-technology/team-sketch-studios-better-interface-design/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Nov 2014 12:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Maya Bruck]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured Interactive]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HOW Interactive: Web Design & Interactive Web Design Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Interactive Design Firms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Interactive Tools & Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UX and UI Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[annotated wireframe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[collaboration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[design team]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[feature brief]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[interface design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sketch studio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sketch studios]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wireframe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wireframing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howdesign.com/?p=199662</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Creative Director Maya Bruck digs into collaborative sketch studios and why they help design teams achieve goals and iterate together - with better results.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/web-design-resources-technology/team-sketch-studios-better-interface-design/">Team Sketch Studios for Better Interface Design</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I’m a collaborator. I like to get multiple heads on a project to see what insight and perspectives they bring that can build on mine. So naturally, one of my go-to <a title="D30" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/visual-design-with-jim-krause-collection?icid=MDSRibbonKOTM110114/?lid=EPhwar110514/" target="_blank">activities</a> to get a project off the ground is running a sketch studio.</p>
<p>Sketch studios are a collaborative exercise where the project team designs and iterates an interface together in a structured format. They can be as simple as a three-person one-hour sketch fest, or as extensive as a series of workshops with a larger group. However you decide to approach them, sketch studios are an incredible way to get team members invested and excited about a project. With multiple brains at work ideating and challenging each other, your team can iterate and test ideas faster and in real-time.</p>
<p>Sounds good, right? Let&#8217;s break down what you need to run a successful sketch studio, step by step:</p>
<h2>Define Your Objectives</h2>
<p><strong>A good sketch studio needs clear objectives, and starting with research helps establish those objectives.</strong> As you conduct interviews and gather the project&#8217;s requirements, start drafting a Feature Report — a document that captures and prioritizes the project’s key features. At <a href="http://pixotech.com/">Pixo</a> — a digital agency where I work as creative director — we typically use a Google spreadsheet for our Feature Report so that multiple people can contribute simultaneously.</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-199969" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/6eccac0e-0079-420a-93bc-2035a2758f65.jpg" alt="interface design" width="628" height="357" /></p>
<div class="image-and-hover"></div>
<p><span style="color: #808080;"><i>Here is an example of a Feature Report we created for a recent intranet redesign project. The first column identifies Pixo’s recommendations based on the pain points uncovered, with a more detailed explanation to the right. Next are columns identifying Value and Effort, with the letters L, M and H indicating whether the value and effort needed to implement the recommendation are Low, Medium or High. The final column is for notes from the client.   </i></span></p>
<p><strong>The Feature Report helps define the problems you’re trying to solve.</strong> Your Feature Report may take a completely different form than this, but the most important thing is to identify what you want/need to work on, what value that brings to the project, and what the level of effort is to implement it.</p>
<h2><b>Keep It Focused</b></h2>
<p>Based on your Feature Report, team size and timeline, decide how many sketch studio sessions to conduct. You may want to do one broad session to cover high-level ideas for the project, or you may decide, as we did for our intranet project, to run several sessions based on the number of features in the project. In our Feature Report we broke down the intranet into ten distinct features. With one sketch session per feature, we held a total of ten two-hour sessions over the course of a few weeks.</p>
<h2><b>Include a Broad Team</b></h2>
<p>In addition to UX-ers and designers, invite developers, <a title="Agile guide to project management" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/becoming-agile-designer-experts-guide-t5485" target="_blank">project managers</a> and maybe even your (ahem) clients. The more diverse your participants, the more buy-in and insight you gain from your team. Having a developer involved means she can immediately veto things that won’t work technically and maybe even provide alternate, more efficient ways of solving the problem. Having clients on hand allows them to fill in any knowledge gaps as they arise and give approval and feedback in real time. Most importantly, because everyone’s thoughts and ideas are heard and explored together, <em>sketch studios build the team’s camaraderie and trust.</em></p>
<h2><b>Start Small</b></h2>
<p>If you’re doing several sketch studio sessions, consider starting with the lowest feature on the priority list. This helps get everyone comfortable with the process and lowers the stakes of the initial sketch session.</p>
<p>For the intranet project, the organization&#8217;s least important feature was their classifieds section, which offered value to their employees but was not crucial to the day-to-day operations of the organization. We worked on this feature first. It helped us get through the kinks in our process, so by the time we got to the really important features, we were really on our game.</p>
<h2><b>Identify</b> Priorities<b> </b></h2>
<p>The more prepared you are, the smoother the sessions will go. Feature Briefs are handy way to get your team on the same page before taking pen to paper (or marker to whiteboard). They help give structure to the session and a jumping-off point for ideas and discussion. Ours typically include a concrete task list for the session and a comparison analysis in a very simple Google doc.</p>
<p>To create a Feature Brief, identify page types you will need to consider and sketch during the session. For a classifieds section, these would be the list page, item page, and ‘post an item’ page. Look at other sites for examples of how they approach the feature you’ll be working on. We looked at things like <em>what expiration date length each listing had</em>, and <em>how the categories of listings broken down</em>. Include screenshots of each comparison, highlighting elements for the team to consider including (or at least discussing).</p>
<p>At the beginning of each session, review the Feature Brief with the team to make sure everyone knows exactly what they’re working on for the next hour or two.</p>
<h2><b>Sketch, Erase, Sketch, Erase</b></h2>
<p>This is the fun part! If you’re working with a smaller team (2-4 people), use a whiteboard to quickly iterate on ideas. Have team members sketch an idea for the feature, discuss it, take a photo, and then erase and sketch another approach if someone has a different direction to explore.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div class="image-and-hover">
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-199971" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/cf808299-1138-4339-98e1-b968523f37b3.jpg" alt="interface design" width="628" height="357" /></p>
<div class="image-hover-container"></div>
</div>
<p>For larger teams, break into smaller groups and sketch on paper. While I typically like smaller sessions to be free-form, setting a structured timeline for larger groups helps keep everyone on task. Once each group is done sketching, have group members post their sketches on a wall or large piece of butcher paper for discussion and critique. You may need several rounds of sketching with a larger group to come to design decisions. Snacks are helpful, too.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div class="image-and-hover">
<p><img class="aligncenter wp-image-199970 size-full" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/45b0c666-1909-44ee-8314-efc87e46b3bc.jpg" alt="interface design" width="628" height="357" /></p>
<div class="image-hover-container"></div>
</div>
<p>If you’re including the client in your sketch studio, consider running the sessions at the client’s office. That way they can pull staff to answer specific questions and give real-time feedback on your <a title="sketching, drawing now" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/start-sketching-and-drawing-now-y0774/?lid=EPhwar110514/" target="_blank">sketches</a>.</p>
<h2><b>Capture Decisions</b></h2>
<p>After each session take the time to document your decisions. At Pixo, we typically pull our ideas into an <a title="wireframing practices" href="http://www.howdesign.com/web-design-resources-technology/best-wireframing-practices-website-construction/" target="_blank">interactive, annotated wireframe</a> that serves as a record of all of our design decisions.</p>
<h2><b>Adapt Sketch Studios for Your Team and Project</b></h2>
<p>The first time we ran a series of sketch studios at Pixo, we were able to get more progress and consensus on the project than we historically got in double the time. And we came in 40 hours under budget. Score.</p>
<p>I encourage you to give this technique a try and adapt it to work for your team and your projects. If <a title="Intro to UX Design" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/intro-to-ux-design" target="_blank">interface design</a> has been a struggle for your team and/or clients to get on the same page, sketch studios will help you save time, bring your team together and have a lot of fun in the process. Sketch away!</p>
<hr />
<p><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/visual-design-with-jim-krause-collection?icid=MDSRibbonKOTM110114/?lid=EPhwar110514/"><img class="alignleft wp-image-134157 size-full" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/v8222_d30.jpg" alt="v8222_d30" width="135" height="135" /></a>If you like collaborating with your team to help ignite the creative fire, this <a title="Jim Krause bundle" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/visual-design-with-jim-krause-collection?icid=MDSRibbonKOTM110114/?lid=EPhwar110514/" target="_blank">bundle of creative</a> rocket fuel is just what you need! Jim Krause, master of all things creative, will give you countless new strategies and exercises to keep your team engaged.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/web-design-resources-technology/team-sketch-studios-better-interface-design/">Team Sketch Studios for Better Interface Design</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>The International Typographic Style: A Brief History</title>
		<link>http://www.howdesign.com/featured/international-typographic-style-brief-history/</link>
		<comments>http://www.howdesign.com/featured/international-typographic-style-brief-history/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2014 13:25:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tony Seddon]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HOW Books: Exclusive Excerpts & Design Book Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[20th Century Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[design styles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[international typographic style]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[swiss style]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tony Seddon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[twentieth century design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[typography]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howdesign.com/?p=200006</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>This excerpt from Tony Seddon's Twentieth Century Design explores The International Typographic Style - a graphic design style that covers a twenty year period from the early 50s to the late 60s and remains an important influence today.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/featured/international-typographic-style-brief-history/">The International Typographic Style: A Brief History</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Need a refresher on important movements in art and design? Tony Seddon’s new book </em><a title="20th Century Design" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/20th-century-design/?lid=SFhwal110714" target="_blank">Twentieth Century Design</a><em> offers a decade by decade look at important art movements, artists and designers, and cultural movements that shaped graphic style throughout history. In the excerpt below Seddon discusses one of the most impactful design styles in the history of graphic design: The International Typographic Style.</em></p>
<p><em>This excerpt is just a snapshot of the fantastic exploration of graphic design history and influences that you&#8217;ll find in Seddon&#8217;s book. <a title="20th Century Design" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/20th-century-design/?lid=SFhwal110714" target="_blank">Learn more about </a></em><a title="20th Century Design" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/20th-century-design/?lid=SFhwal110714" target="_blank">Twentieth Century Design</a><em><a title="20th Century Design" href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/20th-century-design/?lid=SFhwal110714" target="_blank"> at MyDesignShop.com.</a></em></p>
<hr />
<h1>The Swiss Style</h1>
<p>The 1950s saw the full emergence of a design movement that is arguably the most important graphic design style of the twentieth century in terms of its far-reaching impact, its longevity, and its range of practical applications. The style began in Switzerland and Germany and is sometimes referred to as Swiss Style, but it is formally known as the International Typographic Style. Its dominance in many areas of graphic design covers a twenty-year period from the early 1950s to the late 1960s, but it remains an important influence to this day. There are a range of specific visual hallmarks that characterize the style. These include the use of asymmetrical layouts built around a mathematically constructed grid; a clear and unadorned approach to the presentation of content; the use of sans-serif type, generally set flush-left and ragged-right; and a preference for photography over illustration.</p>
<p>It is useful to place the development of the style in historical context as its early influences stretch back over several decades. In 1918, Ernst Keller—considered by many as the forerunner of the International Typographic Style—began to teach design and typography at the School of Applied Arts in Zurich. He never encouraged students to adopt a specific style, but he did argue that a design solution should always be respectful of content. This can be seen as an early version of the Modernist principle of form following function.</p>
<p>Over the following three decades, a number of important Swiss designers would contribute to the development of the style. Theo Ballmer studied at the Dessau Bauhaus in the late 1920s under Walter Gropius and applied De Stijl principles to much of his graphic design work which utilized grids of horizontally and vertically aligned elements. Max Bill—another student at the Dessau Bauhaus from 1927 to 1929 where he was taught by Gropius, László Moholy-Nagy, and Wassily Kandinsky— developed a concept he called art concret which involved the creation of a universal style based on mathematical principles. His graphic design work featured layouts where elements were precisely distributed and spaced; he favored sans-serif typefaces such as Akzidenz Grotesk, and set text flush-left and ragged-right. On a more flamboyant note the designer Max Huber added a generous dash of energetic verve to the mix. Huber studied at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts where he experimented extensively with photomontage techniques and in the late 1940s began to create some of the most exuberant posters seen at that time. He was the master of the layered composition, making use of overprinted shapes and dynamically positioned typography and photomontage to create work which includes his noted pieces promoting races at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza (National Racetrack of Monza.)</p>
<div id="attachment_200009" style="width: 611px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/20th-century-design"><img class="wp-image-200009 size-full" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2014-11-05-at-9.27.26-AM.png" alt="Huber_Poster" width="601" height="428" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Huber&#8217;s graphic poster for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, created in 1950.</p></div>
<h2>Josef Müller-Brockmann</h2>
<p>The style’s total dominance throughout the 1950s is largely represented by the work of one central figure, Josef Müller-Brockmann, whose body of work is synonymous with the period. Müller-Brockmann studied under Ernst Keller in Zurich between 1932 and 1934 before opening his own studio in 1936. He was something of a convert to the International Typographic Style as his influences variously included Constructivism, De Stijl, Suprematism, and the teachings of the Bauhaus, but Müller-Brockmann managed to filter elements of all of these into his very particular and highly representative version of the style. Some of his best-known work was commissioned by Zurich Town Hall from 1952 onward; he was asked to design a series of concert posters and came up with a visual method to represent the music using mathematically harmonious compositions. The motifs employed were highly abstract but somehow managed to evoke the works to be performed. It is interesting to compare these posters to some of the jazz album covers emerging from the music scene in America around this time, which demonstrate how influential Müller-Brockmann’s work had become. Another significant series of poster commissions came from the Swiss Automobile Club who, as an organization, had become concerned about the large increase in the number of vehicles on Swiss roads and the issues that arose from that. His 1952 poster promoting child safety stands out as one of his best pieces.</p>
<div id="attachment_200007" style="width: 419px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-200007 size-full" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2014-11-04-at-4.31.44-PM.png" alt="Brockmann_poster" width="409" height="577" /><p class="wp-caption-text">One of a series of road safety posters designed in 1953 by Josef Muller-Brockmann for the Swiss Automobile Club. The posters were produced in both French and German to accommodate the different languages spoken throughout Switzerland.</p></div>
<h2>Univers and Helvetica</h2>
<p>No account of the International Typographic Style is complete without mentioning the two most famous typefaces to be designed during the 1950s. In 1954 Adrian Frutiger, a Swiss typeface designer based in Paris, completed design work on a new sans-serif named Univers that was arguably the world’s first megafamily typeface as it comprised twenty-one individual weights. Frutiger expanded on the standard regular/italic/bold range to create a set of fonts each identified by a number—the family included expanded and condensed weights too. It took three years to produce all the weights as a commercially available typeface and it was released by the French foundry Deberny &amp; Peignot in 1957, becoming enormously popular among Swiss-style typographers. In the mid-1950s, Eduard Hoffmann, the director of the HAAS Type Foundry in Münchenstein, Switzerland, decided that the ubiquitous Akzidenz Grotesk typeface was due an upgrade. In 1957 he worked with typeface designer Max Miedinger to create a new sans-serif typeface and named it Neue Haas Grotesk. A few years later, in 1960, the face was released by German foundry D. Stempel AG and was renamed Helvetica as a reference to the Latin name for Switzerland (Confoederatio Helvetica). The typeface went on to become the most popular sans-serif in the world and even got to star in its own self-titled movie by independent film maker Gary Hustwitt in 2007, celebrating the typeface’s fiftieth birthday.</p>
<hr />
<p><em><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/20th-century-design"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-200010" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2014-11-05-at-9.30.58-AM-113x113.png" alt="20th Century Design" width="113" height="113" /></a>Excerpted from </em><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/20th-century-design/?lid=SFhwal110714" target="_blank">Twentieth Century Design: A Decade-by-Decade Exploration of Graphic Style</a><em> by Tony Seddon. Visit MyDesignShop.com for more info.</em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/featured/international-typographic-style-brief-history/">The International Typographic Style: A Brief History</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
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		<title>Joe Duffy: It&#8217;s All About the Work</title>
		<link>http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2014 20:49:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jessica Kuhn]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Be a Design Entrepreneur: How to Start a Graphic Design Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design Business & The Industry of Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design Business Clients: Communication & Management]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Design Careers: Industry Advice & Job Search Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design Firm]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Design Ideas: Inspiration for Designers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design Inspiration: Creative Ideas for Designers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design Inspiration: Ideas & How-to Advice for Designers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design Interview Questions, Resume Skills & Portfolio Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design Management: The Process & Business of Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design Thinking]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Getting Started in Freelance Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HOW Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[design business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Duffy & Partners]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[joe duffy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.howdesign.com/?p=199645</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>As Duffy &#038; Partners celebrates 30 years in the design business, founder Joe Duffy shares some of his secrets to finding success in this "crazy business." </p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/">Joe Duffy: It&#8217;s All About the Work</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The year was 1984 when Duffy Design launched, as founder Joe Duffy joined forces with ad agency Fallon, McElligott &amp; Rice, now known as <a href="http://www.fallon.com/" target="_blank">Fallon Worldwide</a>. &#8220;They were the hottest creative boutique advertising [agency] in the world,&#8221; Duffy says. The partnership represented something more than simply a joining of creative minds. It pioneered the collaboration of branding and design with advertising. &#8220;This was really revolutionary at the time,&#8221; Duffy says, who began his career as an illustrator and later worked in advertising. At the time of this launch, he wanted to get back to his illustration and graphic design roots.</p>
<p><a href="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Joe-Duffy-2014-e1415220260899.jpeg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-200028" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Joe-Duffy-2014-e1415220260899.jpeg" alt="Joe Duffy 2014" width="285" height="428" /></a>Thirty years later, &#8220;Duffy&#8221; is a name almost every designer knows whether it be the Minneapolis-based firm or its founder, Joe Duffy, who was recognized as an <a href="http://www.aiga.org/medalist-joeduffy/" target="_blank">AIGA medalist in 2004</a>. That same year, he launched Duffy Design under its current namesake as <a href="http://duffy.com/" target="_blank">Duffy &amp; Partners</a>—an independent creative company that partners with clients and agencies in all disciplines.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://duffy.com/30-years/" target="_blank">Duffy &amp; Partners celebrates 30 years</a> in the <a href="http://howdesign.com/design-business" target="_blank">design business,</a> we caught up with founder Joe Duffy to glean some of his tips for success for building a mega-hit firm—and career, for that matter.</p>
<p><strong>&#8220;Good clients continually go to people who do good work.&#8221; </strong></p>
<p><strong>— Joe Duffy</strong></p>
<p><strong>1. It’s all about the work.</strong> In looking back on creating a name for himself and his business throughout the years, this theme sits at the backbone of everything Duffy does—whether he&#8217;s looking to <a href="https://partnerjobs.coroflot.com/post-a-job-form?origin_id=12" target="_blank">hire fresh talent</a> or simply setting forth a guiding philosophy for Duffy &amp; Partners. &#8220;It is all about the work and the work gives you [the base] to attract other clients who want great work. To attract the best designers who want to build their <a href="http://www.howdesign.com/in-house-designer-blog/in-house-designers-careers/" target="_blank">design careers</a>,&#8221; he says. &#8220;There’s nothing else that really matters.&#8221; He credits this mantra to Tom McElligott, one of Duffy&#8217;s founding partners from Fallon, McElligott &amp; Rice. “Don’t be distracted by anything, the work is what counts … it’s everything,&#8221; Duffy recalls McElligott preaching. &#8220;When I first had this discussion with him about becoming partners, that was so evident,&#8221; Duffy says.</p>
<div id="attachment_200084" style="width: 490px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/DNP_30Years.png"><img class="size-large wp-image-200084" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/DNP_30Years-480x267.png" alt="30 Years of Duffy" width="480" height="267" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">In celebration of its 30th year, <a href="http://duffy.com/30-years/" target="_blank">Duffy &amp; Partners launched a brand new website</a> showcasing its work and history of design.</p></div>

<a href='http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/attachment/1984sonnys/'><img width="113" height="113" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/1984Sonnys-113x113.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Sonny&#039;s — 1984" /></a>
<a href='http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/attachment/classico_jars/'><img width="113" height="113" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Classico_Jars-113x113.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Classico Jars — 1984" /></a>
<a href='http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/attachment/_jb_knobcreek/'><img width="113" height="113" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/JB_KnobCreek-113x113.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Knob Creek — 1988" /></a>
<a href='http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/attachment/time100_logo_icons/'><img width="113" height="113" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/TIME100_Logo_Icons-113x113.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Time 100 Logo — 1998" /></a>
<a href='http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/attachment/dietcoke_can/'><img width="113" height="113" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/DietCoke_Can-113x113.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Diet Coke Cans — 1991" /></a>
<a href='http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/attachment/fresca_cans/'><img width="113" height="113" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Fresca_Cans-113x113.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Fresca Cans — 2003" /></a>
<a href='http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/attachment/her_bottles3up/'><img width="113" height="113" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/HER_Bottles3Up-113x113.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Herradura Premium Tequila — 2009" /></a>
<a href='http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/attachment/nr_greenbike/'><img width="113" height="113" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/NR_GreenBike-113x113.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Nice Ride Minnesota — 2010" /></a>
<a href='http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/attachment/bom_lineup/'><img width="113" height="113" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/BOM_Lineup-113x113.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Ommegang — 2012" /></a>
<a href='http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/attachment/moa_logo/'><img width="113" height="113" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/MOA_Logo-113x113.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Mall of America Logo — 2013" /></a>
<a href='http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/attachment/smt_epagroup/'><img width="113" height="113" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/SMT_EPAGroup-113x113.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Summit Pale Ale Packaging — 2014" /></a>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>2. Don’t Settle.</strong> As you chase the work to both pay the bills and <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/branding-collection/?lid=JKhwar110614-duffy" target="_blank">create a name for yourself</a>, keep this in mind. &#8220;Don’t do anything that’s beneath you,&#8221; Duffy says. If you are looking for a litmus test to determine this threshold, read on. &#8220;Don’t do anything that’s not work you can hang on the wall and be proud of,&#8221; he says. At the end of the day, your work is what represents you and your firm. It&#8217;s what people will remember and will be the building block for your reputation. When the work is not as good as you know it could be, the culprit can likely be traced back to giving in to the need of the money. So how do you do this and keep the lights on? &#8220;Stay small,&#8221; he advises, explaining that the larger the headcount and overhead, the more pressure you&#8217;ll have to &#8220;give into the money&#8221; to survive.</p>
<p><strong>3. Keep a Sharp Eye Out for Good Clients.</strong> In reviewing<a href="http://duffy.com/30-years/" target="_blank"> Duffy &amp; Partners visual timeline</a> created to honor its 30-year milestone, it&#8217;s clear that they&#8217;ve perfected the craft of partnering with good clients. You&#8217;ll find everything from packaging for small-batch ice cream purveyors to work for Coca-Cola, Jim Beam, Qatar National Library, Fisher-Price and community initiatives in the firm&#8217;s backyard, such as Nice Ride Minnesota, a bike co-op program. To land a good client, you must know how to spot one. What you are looking for is &#8220;a client who truly understands good design and wants to utilize it to gain marketplace success. That’s not the majority of design clients out there. There are many who simply see design as a necessary evil and they just want to get it done,&#8221; Duffy says. &#8220;The thing that has maintained our success over the years is that the good clients continually go to people who do good work.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://duffy.com/30-years/" target="_blank"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-200022" src="http://d1n2ocphyqwvae.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Screen-shot-2014-11-05-at-2.13.22-PM-e1415214792285.png" alt="Screen shot 2014-11-05 at 2.13.22 PM" width="650" height="326" /></a></p>
<p><strong>4. Maintain a Kickass Website.</strong> This all goes back to No.1 listed above; It&#8217;s all about the work and <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/21-days-design-first-wordpress-blog/?lid=JKhwar110614-duffy" target="_blank">a killer website</a> is a potential client&#8217;s porthole to evaluating just that. Duffy notes that when a client hears about the firm, whether it be via word of mouth or another means, the first thing they do is go to <a href="http://www.Duffy.com">www.Duffy.com</a>. &#8220;They look at the work, and they make their choice. It’s so great. That’s the way it should be,” he says. This is especially true for maintaining visibility with a broad range of clients, whether they are located in the Middle East, New York City or the next city over. In 1984 and many years afterward, there lingered misperceptions that the best design had to come from firms based in big cities. Duffy notes that being located in the heart of the Midwest has never hindered his business, thankfully, due to his former partner Fallon, McElligott &amp; Rice already having a large client base. &#8220;It’s not where you are — particularly today — that’s no longer the case,&#8221; he says, noting that the use of a well-constructed and maintained website to showcase a plethora of stellar work, whether you are attracting clients or a potential employer, has helped the cause of designers working in a myriad of locations.</p>
<p><strong>5. Surround yourself with the best.</strong> Immersing yourself in a well of talent will only serve to feed you creatively in the long-run, whether you are building a creative team or trying to find the right fit as you job-search. &#8220;You cannot build a great creative culture unless that culture creates great work,&#8221; Duffy says. &#8220;Design is a collaboration.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>6. Maintain perspective</strong>. As Duffy reflects on his design career and the legacy he has built at Duffy &amp; Partners the past 30 years, he&#8217;s humble to the craft itself that has driven it all. &#8220;The reason I’m still doing this at 65 years old, is because I love it. I get up in the morning and I look forward to doing work that I’m proud of. It’s the art side that I really admire &#8230; You don’t retire from being a designer as long as you continue to do work that stimulates and makes you happy.&#8221; he says. &#8220;It’s also how you measure success.&#8221; As a father, his children Joseph Duffy, design director, and Bridget Duffy, general manager, have also found a home at the firm. &#8220;It’s a dream come true, it really is,&#8221; he says.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Additional Resources for Business-Savvy Designers</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li>Hear Joe Duffy discuss how to create a language that fits the personality of a brand in this design tutorial <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/joe-duffy/?lid=JKhwar110614" target="_blank">A Logo Does Not Make a Brand</a>.</li>
<li>Connect with your next best client with one of these winning proposals included in this <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/proposal-bundle-for-designers-volume-2/?lid=JKhwar110614-duffy" target="_blank">Proposal Bundle for Designers</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/design-magazines/how/how-subscriptions/?lid=JKhwar110614-duffy" target="_blank">HOW magazine</a> aims to provide the best advice to help leverage success in your business or design career. Plus, access thousands of cutting-edge projects. <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/design-magazines/how/how-subscriptions/?lid=JKhwar110614-duffy" target="_blank">Subscribe now</a>.</li>
<li>Turn your website (and your client&#8217;s) from an expense to a business-generating tool. <a href="http://www.mydesignshop.com/building-websites-for-roi/?lid=JKhwar110614" target="_blank">Learn how with this online tutorial</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com/design-business/6-tips-from-joe-duffy/">Joe Duffy: It&#8217;s All About the Work</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.howdesign.com">HOW Design</a>.</p>
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