Posts filed under Inspiration
DrupalCon Paris Debriefing
A week after DrupalCon Paris, our team is still talking about the conference, and trying to find some good crêpes. You may say that any conference in Paris is worth going to, and I would not argue with you. Paris is a beautiful city. But DrupalCon also did not disappoint. There were plenty of interesting sessions, conversations, and people to make the trip worthwhile in any city.Here are some thoughts from a few of us at Aten who attended:
- Scott Reynen
I really enjoyed the Ice Cream Sprint before DrupalCon. It was my first experience working on Drupal core and I found the Drupal community makes it really easy to get involved. It was great to meet so many people I’d only seen as usernames previously.
- Brad Bowman
As always, I think my favorite part was connecting with people who I interact with in the issues queues and irc on a daily basis but rarely get to see.
It’s a great experience to connect face to face and learn from other peoples experience and ideas. Whether it was talking with people about dealing with large data imports, improving the design and development process, or managing an effective communications strategy, I was consistently walking away from conversations with a combination of affirmation for our current path, and plenty to think about for the future.
- Justin Toupin
I can’t think of a better, more inspirational setting for this kind of event. The conference was stacked with informative talks, and full of people doing a huge range of work with Drupal. The resulting breadth of perspectives was powerful.
I was particularly pleased (and surprised) to hear as much talk as there was about an “iterative approach.” We’ve been talking about, implementing, and refining an iterative process for several years now, with really positive results. It was good to hear about others’ experiences in a similar direction.
As Jon already pointed out, the city itself is beautiful — what better setting for discussing strategy around development, design and communication than the cafes, metro cars and museums of Paris.
We left excited and inspired about the projects we’re working on and the growing opportunities we have to help advance the Drupal community. It’s just hard to believe we have to wait until April for the next one. DrupalCon San Fransisco, here we come!
- Scott Reynen
Print Design for the Web
I subscribe to a number of magazines that have great content and a really solid design. Wired, ReadyMade, Paste, and Bon Appetite are the four magazines at the top of my list these days. I enjoy them for their use of typography, or their interesting use of photography as an anchor for their articles. Within the bounds of still images, the possibilities in print are virtually limitless.
But wait a minute! The web has not been left in the dust. Lately I've been feeling pretty good about the direction the web is taking in regards to design and the things that can be accomplished online. More and more, sites are embracing grids, large photography, interesting layouts, and custom typography. Here are four of my favorite websites when it comes to design and why I think they're so strong.
idsgn
idsgn is a blog about graphic design, branding, typography and sometimes video. This site uses large images and a tight grid to present topics ranging from Handmade Fonts to Michael Jackson to the latest Ritz packaging. I'm really digging the color scheme and typography (nice blockquotes!) and will definitely keep reading.
Space Collective
Click through the mesmerizing intro on this site and you'll find a wealth of posts, projects, and pictures all having to do with the "state of the species, their planet and the universe, living the lives of science fiction today." Sounds pretty cool, huh? The site pushes the futuristic theme with a clean layout, a combination of contrasting and complimentary colors, and some great sans-serif typography.
A Brief Message
Although it's been a while since it was last updated, I've always enjoyed the short form articles featured here. 200 words or less is quite a limitation and I can't help but wonder if that helps make these articles look like they came straight out of a magazine. The use of a single illustration with content wrapped around it creates a strong presentation with more visual punch than a simple blog post.
Jason Santa Maria
If you aren't familiar with his ever-changing website, take a minute or ten and look through all the different layouts used by Jason Santa Maria. I'm particularly fond of "What the World Needs," a comic-book themed post covering Jason's dreams of becoming an illustrator before he moved on to design (my life mirrors this pretty closely). This, people, is what the web is about. Each page is expertly laid out and every typographic detail has been considered.
If every page on the web was as expertly designed as the pages of these sites, I could die a happy man. That said, it's not like all print design is perfect. We can't all be Milton Glaser.
Work-boarding
Last Friday, we closed our laptops and headed West to soak up the last of winter on the continental divide. Four of us from the Denver office snowboarded at A-Basin Ski Resort, discussed some of our projects and where to find the last of the untracked powder on the East Wall and in the woods. We also got to take some back country runs on Loveland Pass on the drive up and back down. It is great to find some time to mix a little play in with our work every now and then.
Getting Inspired
As a designer, it’s important to stay abreast of the latest work in the field. For me, that used to mean going to website galleries and reading articles on the latest CSS techniques. When CSS and XHTML were new and different, it was easy to get caught up in what people were doing with the technology. Now that it’s been a while since we all stopped using tables for layout, it takes a lot more to impress and inspire me with a website design. So, I’ve branched out. Now when I’m looking for inspiration, I have a few sources that never let me down.
Websites
FFFFOUND
Probably the most up-to-date design image resource on the web, FFFFOUND is an ever-changing, user-submitted gallery of the latest work available online. With thousands of images already added to the collection, I’m never at a loss for inspiration when viewing their RSS feed.Apartment Therapy
My wife and I just bought a new house and it’s been great to see what other people are doing with their spaces. Whether it’s the color of the furniture, the artwork on the wall, or the great architecture, I’m often inspired by photos from this site.Drawn!
This blog is the place to go to keep up with everything illustrated. My roots are in illustration and I can’t help but admire the talent showcased here. Sometimes illustrators make for really incredible typographers and there’s a lot of that here too.Magazines
WIRED
I’ve been subscribed to Wired for almost a year now and it has me thoroughly impressed. The articles are usually interesting but the design is stellar. It’s a great mixture of white space, slab-serifs, info-graphics, and awesome colors. If you don’t read it, you should at least admire it for its design.ReadyMade
This magazine is solid. I like this magazine so much I even bought the book! On top of having great ideas for cheap, cool home-made stuff, the magazine is chock full of great font treatments and elegant illustrations.Bon Appetit
Okay, I admit it. I read my wife’s cooking magazines. It’s just for the layout! I promise! I particularly like the photography and color combinations used in this one.Well, that about does it for now. I’m sure next month I’ll have a whole new list of things I’m digging. If you’re feeling stuck and need some inspiration, step away from the web design galleries and check out some of sites and magazines I’ve listed here.