Posts filed under Events
Drupalcamp Colorado a Success!
This past weekend we had the pleasure of being platinum sponsors at DrupalCamp Colorado. I think we're all in agreement that the event was a great success, and getting to spend the weekend getting to know the rest of Colorado's active Drupal community better was a great experience. Justin and Eric gave a presentation entitled "More Miles, Less Gas" which covered how we're using Drupal within all stages of our design and development process. In addition, I had the enjoyment of presenting on some of my recent work on the YouTube API module.
We're excited to have been involved in this year's event, which grew over 300% when compared to last year's event, and are already looking forward to helping make next year's event even bigger and better!
For those of you interested in photos from the event, you can check them out on flickr.
DBUG Social
Last Thursday evening we had the pleasure of hosting the Denver/Boulder Drupal Users Group (DBUG) for a gathering at our office in downtown Denver. In addition to regular DBUG group we had the pleasure of Michelle Cox and Andy Kirkham's company, as well as being able to welcome Greg Knaddison back to Denver after a 9 month hiatus in South America. There wasn't much in the way of agenda, besides drinking a few beers and talking shop, but conversation tended to gravitate towards the upcoming DrupalCamp the DBUG group is in the process of planning for late July (DrupalCampColorado.org). Al Stefan was nice enough to snap some photos of the event and put them up on his picasa gallery here.
We'd like to thank everyone who came out for making this event such a success, and we look forward to similar events in the future!
An Event Apart Boston
An Event Apart Boston came and went a week ago. The conference was amazing. Nine expert speakers presented on a range of topics from the conceptual to the practical. I’ve never been so happy to sit in one place for so long.
Some Highlights
Think Positive Negative
In his presentation Good vs Great Design, Cameron Moll pitched the idea that design should be problem-focussed, not solution-focussed.
Well put. We’ve spent many critique sessions backpedaling when a design isn’t working, retracing our steps invariably to the original goal, or problem. Now we have a mantra for times like these. Focus on the problem. Or, just like they didn’t tell us growing up, think negative.
Project Managers are Superstars
The conference was largely technical, devoting hours and hours to the methods of implementation. In all that, one point still couldn’t be missed: project managers are invaluable. No problem is truly understood, no goal established, and no solution designed without an effective project manager in the middle. And the middle isn’t always comfortable.
For Best Results, Over-think
Details can be tiny little pitfalls, inviting designer and client alike to pass on by. Not a good idea.
Jason Santa Maria summarized the point perfectly: “Sweat the Small Stuff.” That line was great validation for all times we’ve pulled together a meeting to discuss a font size, a color, the name of a class selector, or an approach to marking up a chunk of content.
Our Senior Designer Knows His Stuff
It’s nothing new, but very exciting all the same. The final session was a site-critique. We didn’t submit anything corporately, but our Senior Designer Ken Woodworth did submit a site he designed for a friend: www.parkviewbaptist.net
It's the first site that the panel critiqued. Needless to say, Ken was a little nervous.
Usability expert Steve Krug opened the critique by saying that he wasn’t planning on staying for the session, but that www.parkviewbaptist.net is the reason he did. He praised the site from a usability perspective. Eric Meyer complimented the (X)HTML/CSS implementation. Jeffrey Zeldman, Jason Santa Maria, Dan Cederholm, and Cameron Moll complimented the design.
It’s worth stating that amidst the compliments the panel offered some well-placed suggestions. Within a day Ken had followed up on all of them. You might say, ehem, he sweats the small stuff.
