Sophie Shepherd

On Design Feedback

One of the biggest unforeseen challenges of becoming a web designer for me has been effectively dealing with client feedback. Simply put, I think honest, respectful, and open communication is the key to any good relationship, business or otherwise. But, of course, it is much easier said than done. Occasionally it just works, but more often than not it takes work. Here are some of the things I have learned that are essential for keeping things running smoothly. Just call me Dear Abby.

My personality is one that I think is common for designers: introverted, non-confrontational, thoughtful, and occasionally crotchety. Why else would we enjoy spending so many hours alone, staring at a screen, making stuff? I put a lot of effort and thought into my work, and it can be difficult to separate myself from it. Therein lies step No. 1: you have to separate yourself from your work so that you don’t take anything personally. There is no quick and easy way to do this, other than muttering “don’t take it personally, don’t take it personally” over and over again under your breath during client meetings. Don’t do that. But do figure out how to step back from your work and look at it with fresh eyes. The client will feel more confident about being honest and open with you when they realize you’re not going to be offended. Once you have done this, you will be able to view your work objectively.

Now that you’re looking at the work objectively, you can start thinking “what is best for the end result?” This means being okay with deleting or changing parts of your design if they aren’t working, even though you have grown to love them. It means listening – really listening – to what the client has to say and viewing the work from their perspective. You don’t need to agree with everything they say, but you do need to listen, process, and analyze it. And if you don’t agree, you need to be prepared to explain to them why, and how you can come up with a solution that you are both satisfied with.

Whys and Hows are essential in good feedback. I am of the belief that it is more difficult to give feedback than it is to receive it, and so unless your client is an art student or Simon Cowell, it probably feels unnatural and awkward for them to critique another person’s work. The responsibility then falls on the designer (and/or project manager) to educate and gently guide the client to provide the feedback needed to move forward. Don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions; this is where the Whys and Hows come in. It is very easy for someone to say “I don’t like X,” but that is an empty statement and near impossible to act upon. Instead, the client needs to be asked why. Why don’t they like it? Is it hard to read? Does it not align with their brand? And once you have the why, it is a hundred times easier to provide a how to improve it.

One thing that people don’t often realize is that positive feedback is equally as valuable as negative feedback. When called upon to provide a critique, a common reaction is to hone in on the negatives. Why not also hone in on the positives? Unless we are told, designers don’t know if we are moving in the right direction with a design. And as before, it is essential to ask (say it with me now) Why. Why do you do they feel something is working well for the page?

Lastly, but definitely not leastly, the way in which the feedback is delivered should always be in writing. This has a number of benefits. First, if your client is a team of people, it consolidates and aligns all opinions into one, letting any internal discussion settle before the feedback is received by the designer. Second, it can easily be referenced in future rounds (and can’t be reneged if someone changes their mind). And third, having a well-written, well-organized list vastly improves the workflow of the designer.

As I said in the beginning of this post, the most important thing of all is to keep all communication between both parties honest, respectful, and open. And even though at times it may feel like you are butting heads, we must always remember that in the end, both the client and the designer have the same goal: a website they can be proud of.

Free Stuff I Used in 2011

I, like most designers I know, am “self-taught”. By this I mean that I have never had any formal education in design or development. But it would be unfair for me to take any of the credit for what I have learned so far in my short career as a designer. We web designers owe almost everything that we know to those who came before us and took the time to leave an explanation of their findings. I am always amazed by the amount of time that people put into side projects with just one goal: to help others; and for these people I am forever grateful.

Both in response to my last post and inspired by Jenn Lukas’ post on Cognition last week, here is a compiled list of my most-used resources, all of which are generously provided for free.

Education

1. Method & Craft — Here is an example of my internal dialogue while looking at any given tutorial on M&C: “Huh, that’s cool. I didn’t know Photoshop could do that. I never even thought of that. What a simple solution. This is going to save me so much time.”

2. CSS Tricks — I have been reading this blog for longer than I have been designing websites. I remember reading a tutorial about customizing a WordPress theme and then thinking “maybe this is something I could do”.

3. 24 Ways — This blog only publishes articles in December, but it’s well worth the wait. I like to think that each article took a whole year to write, and that’s why they are so good. It’s a great end of the year treat to go with my egg nog, bourbon, and Christmas pudding.

4. Dribbble — Dribbble is perfffect if you are: having creative block, feeling really good about your work, feeling really bad about your work, bored, procrastinating, wanting to feel inspired, and/or in need of feedback. When are you not one of those things? And so I ask you, when is Dribbble not a perfect resource? I rest my case.

Assets

1. Function’s Grunge Brushes — There are a lot of free brush sets out there, but these are by far my most used.

2. Lost Type Co-op’s Fonts — Not exactly free, but pay-what-you-want. This means you get to feel like a great person for buying something for $10 even though you would have paid a lot more had you been forced to. Win-win.

3. Grid Systems — I used both 960.gs and 978.gs on plenty of projects this year. There should be some responsive grids on here too, but I am embarrassed to say I haven’t used any yet. Golden Grid looks good. Accepting suggestions.

4. HTML5 Reset — Would you build a house without a hiring a professional to lay the foundation first? I wouldn’t.

5. Premium Pixels — This is the brainchild of Orman Clarke. Sometimes I just download some of his PSDs and then look at all of the layer settings to see how he has achieved a certain look. I have learned a lot this way.

6. Ipsums — There are so many options: Bacon, Samuel L, Hipster, Veggie, Gangsta, Beer…

7. Droplr — Droplr is an essential part of working remotely. My process for sharing work used to be either take a screenshot & email, or try to explain in great detail what I was seeing (2% success rate). Droplr is great for quickly sharing screenshots with an unlimited amount of people.

8. TeuxDeux — TeuxDeux is simpusiful. That’s a word I just made up that means simple, useful, and beautiful. It is one of the few web apps that I felt like I knew how to use well right from the first moment of use, which I think is a testament to its simpusifulness. Runners up if TeuxDeux is teux simple for your needs: Evernote & The Hit List.

9. Google — This is a last minute addition because it is so ingrained in my internet usage that I don’t even think of it as a free service. I view it more as a basic human right; alongside my right to a fair trial, or free speech. I probably spend about 50% of my internet time in some Google product. I use Gmail for mail, GoogleDocs for keeping track of clients & projects, Google Reader to read blogs, Google+… just kidding, I don’t use Google+.

As of this posting, I still have 11 days left in 2011 to add to the list in case I remember anything else. Do you have a suggestion?

Tools I Bought in 2011

As we enter December, there is one thing that is sure to be on everyone’s mind: buying stuff. I’m admittedly not great at this. I only buy from sale racks, I pirate my entertainment (jk, cops), and I will spend hours finding deals online to pay the lowest amount possible. However, recently I have started spending a fair amount on tools that help me do my job better. Though the promise of being able to write them off when tax season comes helps, here are five things that I think are worth every penny. That’s a big endorsement coming from a cheapskate like me.

1. Dropbox ($99 a year)

I would put Dropbox in the same category as my microwave, washing machine, and glasses. I had a good, fulfilling life before them. But then I got them, and I can’t imagine how I lived before. Dropbox (with a little help from Skype) has made it single handedly possible for me to work remotely.

2. Photoshop CS5.1 ($299.00 for upgrade)

This doesn’t really need an explanation.

3. Typekit ($50 a year)

I held off from this for longer than I should have, instead spending time on searching the internet high and low for fonts that were both free and not hideous. Then I bit the bullet and I bought a Typekit account. I knew it would be worth it, but it has gone above and beyond. Between how easy it is to use, how great their customer service has been, the addition of fantastic foundries… I could go on.

4. BBEdit 10 ($39.99 on sale)

Do you know how far my stinginess had gone? I was writing code in Dreamweaver to save a buck or two. Then I saw that BBEdit was on sale, which is my keyword for “go ahead, buy it.” What is my problem? I don’t know. I do know that writing HTML & CSS has become 85% more enjoyable. What used to feel like a chore is now kind of fun.

5. Rdio ($4.99/ month)

I would guesstimate that I have spent at least 200 hours of my life searching the web for illegal music (all a joke, cops). And time is money, right? So the amount of time (money) I have saved just from the ease of using and finding music on Rdio has probably paid for itself about 100 times over. Added bonus: stand-up comedy albums.

How To Work From Home Without Gaining 15 Lbs And A Giant Dreadlock

I am writing this at 1PM, unshowered, barefoot and wearing jorts. Not exactly the poster child for working from home. But I can tell you this: I am not stressed, I have freshly baked zucchini bread in the kitchen, my boyfriend is working by my side, and I am happy.

So far in my working life I have only spent about two years full time in an office. You know that feeling you get when you are done with your work for the day but can’t leave? That is the reason I don’t think I could ever do it again. Now when I finish my work, I go to the gym. I clean the house, I cook, I have a beer. If I’m not feeling like working, I do something else and come back to it with a fresh brain.

It’s not all puppies and roses though. In fact, there are no puppies and no roses. Instead, there are a lot of time management issues and figuring out this thing people call “work-life balance.” I still have a long way to go, but here is what I have learned up until now:

1. Wake up at the same time every day.

This is especially important for me because I have the internal clock of a 16-year-old boy.  If it wasn’t for an alarm, I would sleep until 11 every morning.  We have our alarm set for 7:30 and try to be up, dressed, caffeinated, and working by 9, just like “normal” people.

2. Stop work at (roughly) the same time every day.

When we started this “work at home” thing, it meant working at home, all the time.  It wasn’t that we were doing more work, but rather that we were doing the same work spread out over more hours.  Gym break in the middle of the day, followed by a trip to Target that ends up taking 2 hours and then oh, we should probably get some frozen yogurt… this was us. Now it is wake up, work, eat some lunch, work, cook dinner and watch TV and don’t work! We try (and usually succeed) not to work on the weekends too.

3. Mandate deadlines.

I am one of those people that need deadlines to function. If you say to me “just whenever you get a chance,” I will likely be on my deathbed before I get around to it. So if people don’t give me deadlines, I give them deadlines. I often add in “I’ll get this back to you by 3PM/the end of the day/tomorrow/Friday.” Promising it someone makes me finish on time.

4. Communicate like you are in an office.

If I am sitting at my desk, I usually have Skype open. I am always on GChat and have my iPhone within about six inches of my hands. Short of a cataclysmic event, I am easy to reach. For team projects, I find it is incredibly helpful to have a morning check-in with someone else to lay out the tasks for the day. This not only helps with #3 above, but also with making you feel like you are less of a lone ranger, walking silently into darkness. How sad does that sound?

5. Create a workspace that feels like a space for work.

My boyfriend and I share a small one-bedroom house with a somewhat strange layout. It is split into quadrants; the front two are smaller (kitchen and bathroom), and the back two are equal-sized and larger (living room and bedroom). This means we have an average sized living room and a huge bedroom. When we first moved in, we thought “this is great, there is plenty of space in the bedroom to separate this area as a workspace.” Big mistake! I slept about 6 feet from my computer and often didn’t get dressed until after noon. So we moved to a corner of the living room. We made this move about four months ago and still talk about how much more productive we feel.

So there they are, my five. The biggest one of all though is: Don’t forget how lucky you are to be able to do this.

This Design

At this point in time, I feel comfortable enough with my coding knowledge to build a custom WordPress theme. Luckily, I also feel comfortable enough with myself to tell you that despite this fact, I would rather not. My top priority with this the blog was to get it up fast so that I could start writing. And for the design, my priorities were for it to be content-first and responsive.

I started by researching what responsive themes were already out there. Turns out, there are a lot. After an hour or so of inspecting code and then dragging my browser’s lower right corner back and forth to test the themes in different widths, I settled on Elma Studio’s Nilmini theme to use as my foundation. From there, I sophified it. I took out the elements I didn’t think were necessary, I rearranged the masthead, and I changed colors, typefaces, alignment, max-widths, etc. Soon, I will make my own icons, change more colors, spacing, etc. Eventually I will build everything from scratch, but until then, here we are. Enjoy.

Introduction

I began “blogging” in 2001, when I was a 14-year-old high school freshman. It was on LiveJournal, and, thanks to the cruel nature of the internet, is still alive and kicking 10 years later. The horror! Though it is entirely populated with cringeworthy tidbits of my adolescence (I can’t read it without taking a Xanax and a shot or six of hard liquor), I did find one gem.

June 28th, 2001: the day “I discovered the joys of HTML”. I had wanted to make a website for my phenomenally popular and talented Green Day cover band, so I spent a day reading HTML tutorials and then set out to make a website. And then I blogged about it.

Now, almost exactly 10 years later — after three more years of high school, a cross country move to NYC, four years of film school, two years working in book publishing, and then another cross country move to Austin, TX — here I am. Back at the beginning, setting up a blog about the joys of HTML. Posting about websites I have made or I wish I had made, and the things I have learned.

This time around though, I promise not to blog about Paul Walker, my terrible band, and “old parents”. Most of all, I promise not to end my posts with “fart.”

fart.