2008

Last year came and went without a parting word. I suppose mainly because there wasn’t much to say, but I couldn’t let this year end without some sort of summation. So, without further ado, I give you Design Intellection’s first annual end of year wrap-up. In short, I’ll cover:

My job interview with Facebook,
a small list of sites I designed while working at a web agency,
a special giveaway,
and the continuing mission of this site
(not necessarily in that order).

Keep Reading »

Posted—December 30, 2008 | 6 Comments | Category: Etcetera, Featured

Deluge Studios has a neat site. Nice use of Museo.

Deluge Studio // Posted—December 30, 2008

I enjoyed scrolling through this site: Black Estate Vineyard. (via CSS Mania)

One Pager // Posted—December 17, 2008

Good advice on choosing a design firm from the Blue Flavor Blog.

Choosing A Design Firm // Posted—December 17, 2008

A Bit About the Logo

The logo for this site was the most time consuming part of the process when I redesigned back in April of this year. To recreate on screen how I visualized it conceptually was a battle all the way to the finish.
Keep Reading »

Posted—December 15, 2008 | 5 Comments | Category: Etcetera

Chris Coyier released a neat site that formats standard Lorem Ipsum into common HTML chunks. Great for test content.

HTML Ipsum // Posted—December 12, 2008

The Typographic Desk Reference looks like a handy purchase. Nice site as well. (via Jason Santa Maria)

Typographic Desk Reference // Posted—December 04, 2008

SimpleBits has a new t-shirt available for sale. It has a neat graphic of a battery icon that produced a simple reaction of “hey, another cool product that Dan made.” However, upon reading the very last sentence the concept clicked: Wear it to the gym, coffee shop, pub—or wherever you recharge.

Without that last sentence it would have been just another t-shirt.

Engaging Copy // Posted—December 03, 2008

Artisan Themes

Just a quick announcement here about some of the things I’ve added to Artisan Themes. I’ve released a theme for Tumblr called Mission, moved the two themes I previously hosted here, and released a new theme for WordPress, Circuit, that’s based on the Sandbox theme.

You can view the Tumblr theme in action on my friend Joe’s site. That’s all I’ve got!

Posted—December 03, 2008 | No Comments | Category: Etcetera

The new 24 ways site is very cool. Related, I think Dan Cederholm’s rhyming article on gravity defying page corners is one of the best blog posts ever (circa 2006).

2008 24 Ways // Posted—December 01, 2008

Nice collection of 56 Professional Free Arrow Symbols and Icons.

This Way Over Here // Posted—November 26, 2008

Mark Boulton has set a release date for his book, Designing for the Web, February 2nd, 2009. The accompanying site is quite nice as well.

Practical Design // Posted—November 19, 2008

The new Campaign Monitor looks to be a very useful mailing tool. I used Campaign Monitor for the Artisan Themes site launch and was nothing but pleased.

The New Campaign Monitor // Posted—November 18, 2008

Questions to Ask A Web Designer

For agencies, institutions, small web shops, and others looking to hire a web designer, the process can be a bit esoteric, especially if the persons hiring do not already include a designer. However, many times the right candidate becomes clearly evident based on a strong portfolio and the correct answers to pertinent questions.
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Posted—November 12, 2008 | 1 Comment | Category: Web Design

You’ve probably already heard of this guy, but Greg Vlosich creates incredible artwork with an Etch A Sketch. The process for each piece is a fun and inspiring read.

Etch A Sketch Design // Posted—November 10, 2008

My real-world friend and former coworker, Chase Crawford, has released a very cool theme for Habari called Wings. It’s based on Cutline by Chris Pearson, but it was totally rebuilt from the ground up. If you’re a Habari user (or a blogger) definitely check it out.

Wings for Habari // Posted—November 06, 2008

Zeldman on a recent article in Wired Magazine that suggested axing your blog.

In conclusion, Twitter, Flickr, Calacanis and Scoble. Which proves you can’t have a blog and also use Twitter. Or maybe you can have a blog and use Twitter but you shouldn’t because comments, Scoble, rich.

No More Blogs // Posted—November 03, 2008

In case you haven’t seen it yet, create your own custom write panels in WordPress. Related, do the same thing with ExpressionEngine. (via ThemeShaper)

Homegrown Custom Write Panels // Posted—October 23, 2008

Please, Don’t Call Me A Rockstar.

Agreed. If I ever call myself a rockstar please don’t read this blog anymore. (And yes, I did do a site search before publishing this to make sure I never used the word rockstar!) (via Andy Rutledge)

Rockstarless // Posted—October 20, 2008

Make Yourself Worth Something

I realized that I have lots of conversations with people about the web design profession, the state of the industry, what role design should play, etcetera. Rarely do these conversations make it to this blog though; I want to change that.

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Posted—October 18, 2008 | 10 Comments | Category: Web Design

Kudos to Fell Swoop for their excellent typography. See the example on their design services page. (via CSS Import)

Fell Swoop’s Typography // Posted—October 16, 2008

Carrot Creative has a neat site. I especially enjoyed reading the short staff blurbs (no permalink, follow About > Staff). (via CSS Import)

Carrot Creative // Posted—October 16, 2008

Rocket Ships

It’s always exciting to launch something. Whether it’s a blog post or a redesign, the moment you release into the wild the culmination of hours upon hours worth of work is quite a high.

So imagine releasing a project you’ve spent months executing, and even longer thinking about. It feels pretty good. Of course what I’m talking about is Artisan Themes, the self-described place for “hand-crafted blog themes.”¹

At this point if Artisan Themes didn’t make a single dollar then I wouldn’t even care. (Well, okay, that’s not entirely true.) I’m just so happy to finally have the project live.
Keep Reading »

Posted—October 16, 2008 | 1 Comment | Category: Etcetera

A good read about how waiting for the perfect client is the wrong mindset. (via Andy Rutledge)

The Perfect Client // Posted—October 16, 2008

John from I Love Typography has started a Flickr pool dedicated to favorite letters: My Favorite Letters. Should be a great place for desktop backgrounds and general type goodness.

My Favorite Letters // Posted—October 14, 2008

With a more ceremonious post forthcoming, I thought I’d go ahead and make the announcement that Artisan Themes is live. Hurray!

Over the next three weeks, Design Intellection readers can use the coupon code D780D5CAAD to get a 20% discount. (The discount will be applied at the end, right before you checkout.) Thanks for reading!

Artisan Themes Goes Live // Posted—October 13, 2008

Masters of Fine Arts in Interaction Design. Also check out the sample program list.

I Want to Go Back to School // Posted—October 08, 2008

An Impromptu Survey

As many readers of this blog know, I’m starting a side project — Artisan Themes — where, among other things, I will be selling a ‘premium’ theme. As others also know, there’s a bit of controversy surrounding premium themes and their place in the WordPress community.

You can follow the discussion in many places, there’s the WP-Hacker’s mailing list or the discussion on Ian’s blog that I linked to last month for starters.

All that I’ve read about the topic amounts to what designers and developers of WordPress think about it. However, what I would like to know is what the WordPress end-user (or blogger) thinks about paid versus free WordPress themes.

To that end I have decided to host a very informal survey on the matter. I have three questions after the jump (the Keep Reading link) that deal with said subject.

Now the main problem with these type of things is that it leaves the blog author open to public shame and ridicule if no one comments on the survey because he/she looks like a gigantic fail! So if no one answers I will be forced to comment on my own blog with made up names and answers. No one wants to see that, so please, let me know your thoughts!
Keep Reading »

Posted—October 06, 2008 | 13 Comments | Category: Etcetera

The site for the FOWA Miami conference is live. Great color scheme and textures. I also like how the navigation is repeated near the footer, actually that part of the site is probably my favorite. The light and dark grays with the golden yellow contrast is very appealing.

Future of Web Apps - Miami // Posted—October 01, 2008

Neat display with Post-Its. Take a look at the ‘T’, super sharp. A good example of grid-based design?

To Do // Posted—October 01, 2008

Check out the navigation (left side) on Fall for Tennessee’s site. Excellent choice of type (I’m pretty sure it’s Archer) to pair with the 3-line dotted borders. (Via Elliot Jay Stocks on Twitter)

Neat Nav // Posted—September 25, 2008