Who Is Nikki Jeske?

Nikki Jeske, AKA Design Coyote, is an illustrator and designer/developer living in “the great hill country” of Austin, Texas. Nikki has had a hand in building websites for all manner of animal rescue and adoption shelters, and regularly contributes to the coding community – either through her writing or through her twitterstream where she shares design and development insights. Her work is greatly appreciated not only within the design industry but by many, many animals lovers (and animals!) she helps.

The Interview

ThisIsInspired
You’re a web designer, obviously. How did you settle on design for the web in place of design for collateral or for advertising?

Nikki Jeske
I’ve been creating my own websites since 1999, but it was never something I saw myself doing as a “grown-up.” I went to college to be a naturalist and a writer, but ended up paying my way through by getting jobs as a web assistant and graphic designer and doing my own freelancing gigs on the side. I’ve done print work for t-shirts and postcards and brochures, and I’ve even taken classes for fun on advertising, but there’s something about the web that never gets old. Code is constantly changing, standards are consistently moving forward, and there’s always something new to learn. When I graduated I discovered that there was a lot more work for someone with web skills than for a creative writing naturalist, and because I loved how accessible and functional the web had become, I ended up going that route instead. I sometimes think people don’t understand how important good design is – it makes a difference for even the smallest of sites. I feel that my skills as a web designer has already helped make the web a prettier place to be. :)

ThisIsInspired
Anyone who follows you on Twitter knows you’re very (very!) supportive of pet adoption, animal rights and related issues. How does this influence you socially and/or creatively?

Nikki Jeske
It’s good to hear that my followers take notice of this as it’s a very very important part of my life.  There are so many animals in need, so many cats and dogs and rats and other critters that need help finding their forever homes and getting off the streets, and twitter has become a fantastic way to bring awareness to their needs. In the rescue network and shelter communities, social media has become key to sharing information about individual pets that need to find families. While I do as much as I can on my own twitter account designcoyote, the majority of animal tweets that I do are in line with the website I co-founded I Love Rescue Animals and its twitter account rescueanimals.

ThisIsInspired
To you, what is the most important thing involved in a project when you’re doing it at low- or no-cost for an animal shelter or for a similar project?

Nikki Jeske
Making sure that it’s not only a good design, but that it is functional, easy to navigation, and easy to read. Most blog projects I do I focus more on the design, but with animal-shelter or rescue projects that I do, I focus more on how the content will be and the navigation. To be honest, the majority of people working with shelters or animal rescues (at least the ones I have worked with) don’t have a lot of web knowledge, so not only does the design have to be simple and put all its focus on the animals, but the website itself has to be simple and easy to use. The designs should not distract from the importance of the content, and while this is usually a good thing to have in the back of your head for all sites, for animal shelters, it’s even more key.

ThisIsInspired
To you, is there a separation between inspiration for such a project as opposed to a regular design project?

Nikki Jeske
Yes. While I’m passionate about design as a whole, bringing in a project that has to do with saving the lives of animals is something that I can’t help but bring ahead of the rest. Most of the projects (so far all) have been done pro-bono, but despite that, they are some of my biggest projects because I know how very important it is for a shelter or organization to have a good website. It’s true that despite the saying, people do judge books by their covers, and the same goes for websites. If a shelter’s site is hard to navigate, built on geocities with little to know fluid content, even if they have a real need for donations and adopters, they aren’t going to get a lot because of their bad site. Sad, but true. My inspiration for an animal site is the mission behind it – the faces of all the animals that could be saved with my help. I can’t say I get that inspiration from other design projects.

ThisIsInspired
So if you have a project – imagine you’ll be doing it for a local animal shelter or the like – how would you start that day when you take the big first step? Imagine the day is all your own, you have this project to get underway… how do you start the day? Coffee, a bagel, yoga…?

Nikki Jeske
I’m a morning person so if I have the whole day to work on something, I’ll be up at 7 and at my computer with a cup of coffee (and if I’m hungry, a slice of zucchini bread topped with cream cheese). Generally the very first thing I’ll do before anything is turn on my iTunes (lately I’ve been listening to Jonsi or Enya in the morning), pop onto twitter for a quick good morning tweet, and then stare out the window. :) It’s my way of relaxing and getting into a good mindset for the rest of the day. Sometimes I do get up and do some yoga or I’ll spend a little time meditating. Whatever it takes to put my mind at ease. After that I open my inbox and try not to feel overwhelmed before diving head-first into photoshop. ;)

ThisIsInspired
If you were to visit an animal shelter website and see it’s horribly developed, and then visit another and see it’s very slick and well thought-out, would this influence your opinion for good or bad? (eg: would you think they were using their donations for flashy exterior stuff rather than where it really matters, etc.)

Nikki Jeske
No, not at all. Actually, whenever I see a really nicely designed animal site, I more often than not simply assume that it’s been done by a volunteer. All the organizations that I’ve worked with have all had volunteers create their sites and logos and there’s only one or two non-profits that I know that are big enough to actually have hired someone. So as for influencing my opinion and thinking they’re spending money on things that don’t matter, it doesn’t make me think badly about them at all.

ThisIsInspired
You’ve mentioned also that you develop for WordPress. On a slightly different note, what are the differences between *designing* for WordPress versus designing for a regular CMS or as static pages? Obviously, developing uses different methods altogether, but what about design?

Nikki Jeske
It’s easier. ;) I love designing for WordPress pretty much because I simply love WordPress. I’ve used many different blog platforms and content management systems, and WordPress has always come out on top for me and it’s what I recommend to all my clients as well because it is so easy to use and quick to learn. Creating WordPress Themes is fun because you’re not just creating a design, you’re creating a design that will be interactive and functional with the actual content of the site. My day job calls for me to create designs based on template structures in a certain CMS, and while the design aspect is still good, the mobility and functionality of the site is not as integrated into the design. It isn’t connected and is merely a covering for the site. WordPress combines a functional site base with a theme structure that creates a beautiful, one-of-a-kind site. As for static pages, well that can either be super fun with its complete free-reign of both code and design, or it can also get messy and disorganized fast.

ThisIsInspired
Can you point to one thing that typifies your work? For example, that one thing that makes it uniquely *you*, a certain feature or quality that would otherwise be lacking had the client gone elsewhere?

Nikki Jeske
Design is art, there’s no question, but I have a background as a traditional artist and that comes into play in my designs. I love to draw and I love to paint and when I discovered drawing tablets, it was a done deal. Most of my designs are heavily illustrated and I think that brings a touch of uniqueness to what I do. None are the same, and most designs you see online follow some great trends, but they don’t rely on artwork. I love illustrating designs and using bright colors to make them pop. I bring a lot of fun and creativity and color to each illustrated design and that’s not something clients will get elsewhere.

ThisIsInspired
When you find inspiration – via music, going for a walk, talking with friends, flipping through an art book, etc – how do you “solidify” that idea in your head? Sketching, Photoshop, etc?

Nikki Jeske
I sketch. A lot. When I see something I like, I tend to doodle it on whatever is handy – and that will somehow find its way into a photoshop document that ends up getting used for a design or for an illustration. Music influences me heavily – most often whatever color I’m working with at the time is the color I “sense” from whatever song is playing. If you’ve seen any of my personal designs you’ll know I’m also greatly inspired by nature. As I mentioned earlier, I went to school to become a naturalist, and I tend to incorporate trees and grass and sky and anything from the natural world into whatever project I’m working on for myself.

ThisIsInspired
Last question: On any given day, as you sit at you computer to design and/or develop, how many cats (or dogs) are right there, making sure you do your best?

Nikki Jeske
At this moment, I’ve got three dogs and a cat sitting in the same room as me, listening to me type. In the entire household, we’ve got twenty-three animals that make sure we do our very best every day. Here’s a quick run-down of who keeps us on our toes: three dogs (Spunky, Snarf, Rufus), seven cats (Zane, Akima, Merlin, Cleo, Satsuki, Jacob, Storm), two ferrets (Drake, Nate), seven rats (Meetu, Chunky, Tumtum, Toodles, Twinby, Artemis, Athena), a ball python (Kendi), a leopard gecko (Phoebe), and two bettas (Galileo, Aristotle). Of all of those, only three are not rescues/adopted/picked up off the streets. They make life more exciting. If you’re interested, you can check out their antics in comic form over at The Family Menagerie, my webcomic.

…

I’d like to thank to Nikki for her patience and collaboration in bringing this interview to publication. Thank you for your time and conversation!

Thanks for reading This Is Inspired! Catch more inspiration online at ThisIsInspired.com and share comments and feedback.

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This begs the questions: With credentials being tossed around willy-nilly and so many college drop outs getting some nice projects, does it really matter? I’ll be honest, I’m a high school drop out and never wanted for work or even some high profile projects, so my viewpoint is a bit one-sided, but let’s explore both sides of the issue and see where it leads.

The Educational System

A problem many people cite in the educational system is that with years required to approve a curriculum and subsequently the years you spend attending the class and learning – you may come out two or four years behind in your field.

Areas where it helps to take formal courses – or at least to do rigorous and serious self study might be the psychology behind design, elements of design theory, and even type. These are things that don’t change, or at least, don’t change fast and give you some leeway to learn without risk of being left behind.

Technology changes very fast, so even if you take a course in Photoshop, you’ll come out knowing the basics but may still wind up with a learning curve if you’re a couple versions off (and hey, if you can live with an older version, more power to you. I still use CS3.)

Another area where credentials may help out is in securing a job at a respected design agency, where they want to know you take your work seriously and at least some guarantee you know what you say you do. But even then, many agencies may hire you based on your work portfolio or past clients, regardless of any degree.

On the subject of curriculum, it can be beneficial – or at least time saving – because you’ve had learned professionals already do the prep work and figure out what is relevant to the program and what isn’t. You learn mostly only what’s of benefit to your field, and largely ignore what isn’t.

The Unconventional Way

Learning something from scratch is hard work, and time consuming. In effect, you must decide on and then fulfill your own curriculum. This can be beneficial because you ultimately decide exactly what direction you want to go in. If you’ve already got a good sense of where you want to be and what you need to know, this is good and can give you some great freedoms. However, if you’re unfamiliar with the field in question you might end up leaving out vital information you’d otherwise get through the educational system.

For example, whereas a conventional course may include whole sections on type design (which is amazingly subtle and detailed), if you know you won’t be dealing with type at all (or very, very little) you can toss this altogether. At least, you can put it on the shelf for a later date – you’re not forced to cover it at a set time when you’d rather be getting some meatier stuff somewhere else.

Whereas some people may crave the regimented method of attending classes, others like to learn at their own pace – and you simply can’t do that in a classroom. The old saying “the class moves as fast as the dumbest student may have some truth after all.

Have Your Cake, Also Eat It

Picking one over the other (and likely you’ve already made your decision or are all through with the really BIG learning curve) doesn’t preclude having some perks. It’s great for you that the design community loves to share information and to teach. Push all the “inspiration” blogs aside for a moment and focus on the few really good ones that teach: Smashing Magazine, Six Revisions, even personal blogs run by such designers as Jacob Cass, Brian Hoff and David Airey can be great resources for learning.

The social learning perks applies to the business whether you have a degree or not; regardless of any piece of paper, if you want to learn the information is there. Often in the “global knowledge” type of sense (eg: you won’t find extensive, college-like free courses online – but there again: even if you take the course online, is it still conventional education?) Benefits you can have regardless of where you learn include

• Social media & interaction with other designers
• Access to relevant forums & communities
• Ability to ask or connect with specific people over specific problems
• Access to the same software (albeit perhaps without the financial incentives)

Increasingly, as more people come online, more people learn online, more people need websites or other design work done, and less agencies require a degree and focus more on work, having a degree will become less necessary. Even now, a college is not mandatory to find a good job and more and more people are finding cool jobs and getting enough work having taught themselves.

And the difference between the two really isn’t so great after all: You still learn the same material, cover the same ground, and use the same tools to do your work. The difference is in perceived value (college system) versus ability to learn at your own pace (teaching yourself), and in many cases, to learn faster and learn practical application a bit quicker.

Some people even go so far as to perceive college is the real way to learn, the serious way, and teaching yourself is for lazy students or someone with special needs. It isn’t this way at all. I kept my nose in a book(s) for years as I learned HTML, Javascript, PHP, using Photoshop, learning design theory, copywriting, and brand/identity. I’m not wealthy, but then again I don’t do badly either. I have my office: It’s aluminum, folds up when I’m not using it and (literally) goes with me wherever I want to take it. I can roll into your city, head to a wireless cafe, and I’m at work.

We all have to find the methods we need to reach our own success.

Thanks for reading This Is Inspired! Catch more inspiration online at ThisIsInspired.com and share comments and feedback.

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Who is Devin Liddell?

Devin Liddell is a Brand Strategist at one of the Northwest’s most respected design firms and has been involved in branding for a decade. He got started working for The Leonhardt Group, then moved to FITCH, and most recently has been working at Phinney Biscoff Design House in Seattle, WA, where he is the Director of Brand Strategy. Devin’s unique perspectives on brand design and strategy have been featured in Brandweek, and Brand Strategy (both great publications for those interested in brand), HOW Magazine, and has been featured frequently in Black Book, where in 2006 he had three features in the top 100 for design collaboration & copywriting. Devin also is a known speaker for the American Marketing Association, and lectures for the University of Washington Design Studies Program. One final thing: He’s a family man and loves to cook in his free time. (free time?)

The Interview

ThisIsInspired
How did you get started, what made you choose brand work in the first place, and what passion keeps you interested in it?

Devin Liddell
When I started at The Leonhardt Group in 1999, I really had no idea what I was doing. I remember gorging on design magazines in the weeks leading up to my start, which I don’t think helped at all, but I enjoyed it. I had almost no sense of what brand strategy really entailed, and that was okay because I had wonderful mentors and the firm valued critical thinking, and I knew I could do that. More than anything, I really had this overwhelming desire to be around designers. That was the inspiration. And that affection and affinity for designers and what they do turned out to be really important for my career, because I essentially made a living for the first few years by being an effective bridge between senior strategists who didn’t interface well with designers, and designers who didn’t know what the hell these strategists were talking about. So being a bridge really helped hone my perspective on both strategic principles as well as how strategy is brought to life through design. That relationship remains fundamental to me, and explains why I would never work for a firm that did not feature designers. I love strategy, but even the best strategy is absolutely meaningless unless a creative team takes that idea and makes it into something that exists in the real world.

“I love strategy, but even the best strategy is absolutely meaningless unless a creative team takes that idea and makes it into something that exists in the real world.”

Strategy without design is just a PowerPoint. And, for the record, I don’t ever present strategy through slides. I use big, oversized sheets of paper. I want to start clients down the path of making these ideas real right away. This passion for taking strategy and using creative to turn it into something meaningful is what keeps me engaged. It’s also why I love being a copywriter. Plus, agency life reminds me of the best parts of college. You don’t like a certain project? Eh, it’ll be over in six weeks and you’ll start something new.

ThisIsInspired
Anyone who knows you knows you like to cook, and creative people don’t take a break from imagination. Can you look at both cooking and brand work and point to similarities, creatively speaking?

Devin Liddell
That’s interesting, and I’ve never considered how they’re similar. But they are. Both are process-driven, which I think is important. Not that you should be shackled to process, but process can effectively organize your thoughts in how to get from start to finish without getting stuck. Plus, the best kind of process actually sets the table for the unexpected, which is what you want. Another important similarity is that both brand work and cooking push you creatively to try new things. To take calculated risks. Neuroscience shows that even doing something simple in a different way—using your left hand if you’re right-handed, for example—stimulates your brain. Think about what cooking a new dish must do. You’re dealing with perhaps unfamiliar ingredients, maybe a different process, and you have yet to achieve the desired outcome. That is creative risk. Plus, there is a pleasure in cooking, and that sensation is similar to what I feel as I move through a brand development process. Finally, and not to get too weird here, but while cooking and brand work can be beautiful, the best outcome is to arrive at the inside of people’s guts. I want food to go there. And I want my clients to take the brand and ingest it into their organization, so that it’s a part of their organizational being. 

ThisIsInspired
Does the type of project you’re working on at work have an effect on what things you cook? (eg: A highly creative project at work means you’ll take a break at home, sort of thing)

Devin Liddell
My wife and I have two young sons, ages 4 and 2. Keeping up with them requires a lot of energy, and occasionally we are so tired after putting them to bed that we will opt for a “cereal night.” For the same reason, if I’m creatively taxed with a big project or lots of small projects, I’m less likely to cook anything adventurous or complex at home. That’s the time for comfort food. One relationship between work and cooking at home that I’ve done for a long time is eating fish the night before a big presentation. Fish is great for your brain, so I always eat fish the night before a big meeting. It’s probably evolved into a bit of a superstition for me.

ThisIsInspired
The Northwest United States is a gorgeous area, for wildlife and the Great Outdoors, but Seattle’s also got a reputation for rainy weather. Does the world around you have any creative impact on what you do at work?

Devin Liddell
It is beautiful here. The rain also keeps everything very clean and green. The only kind of weather here in the Northwest that drives me bonkers is what I call “high altitude gray.” It’s not raining, it’s not foggy—it’s just this high layer of gray clouds that sits there doing nothing. That weather makes me anxious. After 18 years here, though, I’m maybe a bit less affected by the weather than I used to be. Several years ago, we did set a record with something like 99 straight days of rain, and that was the only time I ever thought to myself, “Really? This is where you want to spend your time?” But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Seattle is rainy and can be somewhat dreary, but is also celebrated for its creative industries. We’re all inside working on something!

ThisIsInspired
There are cliches all over, in any type of creative work: All-caps Helvetica is overused, certain taglines or phrases are just variants of so many others, etc. In a sea of stuff like this, how do you stay on track with originality?

Devin Liddell
I think we all know when we are treading on territory that is well-worn, or even when we’re resorting to a particular “trick.” But, in general, I think most people in the industry don’t struggle with how to come up with original ideas. We’re sort of wired to do that. What I think we struggle with more is getting clients to buy into those original ideas. And here’s the kicker: it’s usually not the client’s fault. Our industry is too absorbed with the notion that we are the magic-makers and clients are the party-poopers. That’s an easy excuse, and it’s not true anyway.

“Our industry is too absorbed with the notion that we are the magic-makers and clients are the party-poopers. That’s an easy excuse, and it’s not true anyway.”

If you’re dedicated to originality, then you have to be dedicated to evangelizing how that originality will drive someone’s business forward. Those are usually easy arguments to make, just look at the competitive landscape, but a lot of people are not comfortable arguing with their clients, or at least really pushing them hard. I tell my clients all the time, “If you are really uncomfortable, that means we are doing something right.” Radical differentiation should not feel comfortable. Why would we expect radical differentiation—which is a necessity for the success of a brand—to feel comfortable? In fact, I tell our clients during the pitch process that we expect to argue and push each other. The other thing is that we need to invite clients into the creative process. Involving them in the creative process helps them take ownership of original ideas. Originality can’t be a bomb we drop on them. They have to be invested in originality, and that means they have to be integral to the process.

ThisIsInspired
What do you do for inspiration? In your opinion, why does your muse work for you when it might not work for someone else?

Devin Liddell
I’m a big fan on Francis Bacon’s essay “Of Studies.” In this essay, he says that reading makes you full, conversation makes you ready, and writing makes you exact. So, if you want to be a real live wire, you should read a lot, have a lot of interesting conversations, and write a lot. It might sound corny for me to say this, but those are truly words to live by. I think those three really constitute most everyone’s “muse” in some form or another. As for my muse, and why it only works for me, it comes down to an employer-employee relationship. I’ve told my muse before, “I love you, and I think we have a good thing going on. But don’t forget you work for me, not someone down the hall. If you ever leave me, I’ll kill you.” Luckily, my muse does not take me very seriously. 

ThisIsInspired
Imagine you have a free day to yourself. No jobs on the table, no calls, no email. How would you live that one day to rejuvenate your mind and be ready again tomorrow?

Devin Liddell
Wow, now I’m panting. I’d probably watch soccer. There is something hypnotic to me about really fantastic soccer. There is a lot of geometry and angles in the game. And the attacking side is all about constantly probing, trying to find its way to the goal. I’d say you’re more likely to hear the word “creative” while watching soccer than any other sport. Soccer is wonderful to watch, and it’s a running clock, so you get completely absorbed in the action. I’m also a huge fan of going to movies by yourself, especially during the day. That can be very rejuvenating, because it’s only the story in front of you. You’re not thinking about anything else. But if I’m being really honest with myself, that kind of day may not be very helpful to me. I need a little bit of activity to keep me on my toes. One of the side effects of agency life is that it’s made me almost completely worthless in the absence of deadlines. At home, I have to create arbitrary deadlines just to get things done. 

ThisIsInspired
It’s funny how good design can work at any level. A business card, for example, can be completely minimal and bare-bones but carry a very distinct sense of place and brand whereas an equally minimal card that’s poorly designed just flops. What’s the key attribute, to you, that underlies why some designs succeed?

Devin Liddell
Well, a great designer. I know that sounds blunt, but a great designer is what separates a sublime minimalist card from a crappy one. We’d like to think there is some formal distinction, but really it’s a distinction of talent, of intuitive know-how. I think it also generally has to do with how successfully a single attribute is exaggerated. Total intentionality, with as few compromises as possible, is what stands out. When you consider that we’re subjected to more than 30,000 marketing messages per day, the question across every touchpoint becomes, “Why should anyone notice this?” For me, the more exaggerated presence a design has, the more it commands that notice.  

ThisIsInspired
The internet is “instant!” in the minds of so many people. How, would you say, has this “instantaneousness” [sic] changed brand design or at least people’s perception of brand, if at all?

Devin Liddell
One interesting effect is that it has created this sense of fluidity. Before, brand identities were primarily designed for the sides of big buildings and retail environments and the like. So, fairly inflexible applications. If you hoisted a big logo onto the side of the building, you wouldn’t want to change it anytime soon. Same goes for retail applications. But the Web is never finished. It’s always changing. Look at how Google treats its logo on its homepage every day. Ten years ago, just the idea of that would’ve given night sweats to the brand police inside every organization. So that’s the big one for me. Brands now are treated a bit more fluidly. The best web sites are never “finished” or “launched.” They change every day, certainly with content, but maybe even a bit in look and feel. A smaller effect is that the Web is generally supposed to be a friendly and welcoming place, so brand identities are reflecting that. The use of type to communicate “serious business” is giving way to a more warm and human presence. Look at the old Walmart logo compared to the new one. 

ThisIsInspired
Designers have the ability to look at a given design and get an idea of the process that went into making that design what it is. Removing the tangible, calculable process, can you look at a design and get a feel for the inspiration of the designer? (kind of like working the design process in reverse, if that makes sense..)

Devin Liddell
Almost never. There’s part of me that wishes otherwise, but outside of having direct exposure to the designer’s thinking, mostly I see a design as an embodiment all its own, separate from the designer. Writers have a sense for this as well, the idea that the text takes on a life all its own that is separate from the writer. This is actually the goal, I think. When I see a design that is the perfect embodiment or reflection or expression of a brand, that is what is should be—not a reflection of the designer. To me, the designer is an outsider that has a very specific gift for illuminating precisely what the brand aspires to be.

“To me, the designer is an outsider that has a very specific gift for illuminating precisely what the brand aspires to be.”

When I’m copywriting for a brand, I don’t write in my voice. I write in the voice of the brand, which is separate from my own, but facilitated through me. Similarly, the designer works to reveal the brand’s true self.

We can’t inject ourselves into the brand. That would be virus-like.

…

I’d like to thank Devin for his time and attention for the interview. He’s not only busy at work but at home as well. Devin, thank you. :)

Thanks for reading This Is Inspired! Catch more inspiration online at ThisIsInspired.com and share comments and feedback.

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Pen & Paper

Everything starts with a pen and paper. Okay, not everything but just about everything. We jot, we doodle, we sketch, and out of these little creative ramblings we figure out what direction to take with a design and what we’ll work up for a client.

We all have our favourites tools for this part of the project. I prefer a blank pad and a fine G2 Rollerball, but I’ve seen designers use fountain pens and artists’ pencils. Some of us get pretty involved in this phase and bring in a collection of writing and doodling tools that to everyone else might make us look like a professional sketch artist or painter (well, I guess we are professional sketchers, in a sense).

Some of our sketches are so in-depth we can show them to the client and get some initial feedback before we ever even turn on the computer, but mostly, it’s these little first sketches that help us work out the problems with certain designs and put together the pros & cons of each one. As the saying goes, “The Journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step” we could say “The launch of a major website begins with the first sketch.” It’s kind of cool, and also at the same time kind of humbling, to realize that no matter what the scale of the project is – from Nike and Starbucks – each one starts off as a little sketch on someone’s pad. From what small acorns, eh?

Photoshop or Fireworks (or both)

Okay, maybe Photoshop isn’t what you use – maybe you prefer Fireworks (which is experiencing a bit of an upswing among certain designers) – but the second step, after finalizing a design on paper is to turn to software. We’ve worked out a design, put it on paper, identified key areas, buckets, possible problems to work around, etcetera, and now we need to turn it in a living visual creation.

So we open Photoshop or Fireworks and get to work taking those final sketches we came up with in the first phase and making it a workable, codable design. In this part of the project we might identify what areas would be harder (or close to impossible) to develop, and work out ways around it. The Photoshop Phase works very closely with the Coda Phase because because as we create the design in the software we have to constantly keep in mind what’s possible, what’s pushing the envelope, what’s not possible and what we know is possible but we might have trouble with. Sticking to the grid makes our Photoshop Phase lives a bit easier, but even then we can jump and dance in creativity and have fun working out what problems we might foresee.

We mark out content buckets, identify any area that will use AJAX or some other script-heavy dynamic (if such exists in the given project), and get everything sliceable and diceable for Phase Three.

It’s funny to think that some designers choose to stay in the Pen & Paper period even while they mock up the design graphically and develop it. They use handwriting fonts, torn-paper edges, and all sorts of visual tricks to keep the design looking like it’s still on the desk of the designer. We’ve all seen websites that aren’t so smooth and polished (in the strictest, most class-conscious sense of the word) and we enjoy these because they break from the monotony of bevels, buttons and all-caps Helvetica.

The Photoshop Phase is kind of like making an origami balloon – in the Sketch Phase we picked the paper and made our first creases in that paper. Now, we get to work folding it up. Then, as we develop it and make it workable, navigable and accessible it’s like breathing life into it and filling it out.

Coda or Textmate

I prefer Coda (as you may know), but both Coda and Textmate are very popular, and very worthy, apps for taking our little folded origami balloon and blowing it up into a 3D object we can actually play with.

In the prior phases, we’ve identified what scripting will be involved and we’ve got in mind how we’ll start cutting up the layout. Here’s where all that thinking and cudgeling of the brain pays off. We start with a blank document – a simple XHTML layout with key areas defined or, literally, a blank document. Some of us type our DOCTYPES by hand, most don’t. Most of us work with a shell document with all the basics right there waiting and we tailor it to suit our project.

But into this shell we build, bit by bit, what will be the foundation of the website. Ninety-nine percent of people don’t ever even see all the stuff we code behind the scenes, but slowly, slowly in the Coda Phase we inject a bit of CSS here, an additional HTML element there until we’ve got it together. Gone are the days when we think in terms of spacer GIFs (thank goodness) and empty table cells.

From a blank document springs something that can capture the eye, engage the hand, and spark the brain.

As we develop, we learn and we teach ourselves. Every time I’ve cut up a design I’ve found a better way to do something – to accomplish a certain task more easily, to get a certain aspect of it more streamlined. Little fine-tuning things we ourselves learn from and benefit from.

Sometimes we might be proactive and find Sketch Phase or Photoshop Phase ways to make this final one a bit easier. We teach ourselves, through experience and through repetition, how to become better designers and developers.

From our initial little sketch we can teach the viewer.

That little doodle we started with way back there can inspire the viewer to take action and to learn.

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