Category: Strategy

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Design Mobile Strategy UX

Top 3 Must-Read Books of 2015 for Digital Creatives and UX Designers (and 2 more)

If you’re looking for a holiday gift for the designer in your life, here are a few highly recommended books that were published in 2015.

I can usually make it through 5-10 trade books a year. I’m not sure if that number is good or bad, but it’s an honest one for me. 2015 has been a great year for design books and I wanted to share my top 3 favorites. The list would be 5-strong but the last 2 I haven’t read yet as they were just released.

These are in no particular order.

RWD_danrose Responsive Web Design with Adobe Photoshop 1st Edition by Dan Rose (@dblizzy)

Here is the quick review I put on Amazon via my phone shortly after reading: “This book is a must read for any UI Designer that still appreciates being creative. Easy to read and invaluable for anyone who is struggling with the idea that you should design in the browser. This book does a great job of showing and proving that that isn’t the case. I’m going to make this a required read for my UI desig team.”

On the surface, you may think that this is a technical manual that simply walks you through how to design a responsive site with Photoshop. That’s not the main point of this book (though there are some great tips and tricks) and not what Dan’s motives for writing it were in my opinion. Instead, he jumps right into the “great design debate” of the past couple of years as to whether or not it’s right or wrong to design responsive experiences in the browser or in a tool like Photoshop.

If you are someone who is a mid to advanced user of Photoshop and are feeling the pressure from other designers and developers in the industry to move away from Photoshop and you don’t agree, then this book if for you. It will help you show through example why it’s not old school to use Photoshop for web design. After reading Dan’s book I solidified my stance that what is great about UI design is that it’s a creative field (that dabbles in being technical) and that it’s best to use the tools that make you comfortable so that you can be as creative as possible. You should never hold back your designs because of the tools you’re using.

I felt as if some of the pages of this book were penned by me and it echoed my theory and philosophy of RWD. If you still value being “creative” and Photoshop is your tool of choice, pick this book up and keep it by your side when you’re designing. You’ll learn new techniques that can help streamline your process and make sure you think of all the in’s and out’s of designing a responsive site.

ArticDesignArticulating Design Decisions 1st Edition by Tom Greever (@tomgreever)

As I progress though my career I am able to recognize my strengths and weaknesses faster. Because of this I’m also able to find solutions to the weaker parts of my skill set and nip that weakness in the bud.

One thing that I’ve been proud of over the years is my ability to articulate my designs, at least I thought that was the case until maybe the past 1.5 years or so. With the ever evolving world of web design comes challenges to be able to explain the “why’s” behind you and your teams designs. At some point you think that your experience should just speak for itself. The problem is that time really NEVER comes.

I decided to pick this one up after one particularly bad meeting where I wasn’t able to explain why I had directed my team to do something. I realized that the medium is moving way way faster than some of the C-Suite Execs are able to keep up.

This book is a great tool to help refine and sharpen the skill set of selling your ideas and is highly recommended for any designer out there.

touchDesigning for Touch by Josh Clark (@bigmediumjosh)

Josh Clark has done a great thing for the design community by writing this book. I’m about 95% through this one and I’ve already used it in my day to day work more than once.

If you’ve ever designed anything for a mobile device you know that it’s just not as easy as saying “make the text bigger and make that button tapable!” there is way more to it and Josh does a great job explaining the nuances of designing for these new devices and sizes without getting too far into the weeds.

There are real-life examples throughout this quick read and best of all this book is up-to-date. One of the reasons I wanted to read this was to see if and how the differences between phone screen sizes and the rise of the “phablet” have effected design techniques or touch design philosophy. The answer is in this book and it’s valuable information that every designer should have. I just hope they keep updating it as new and unexpected trends in this market emerge.

Just Bought; Haven’t Read

A Book Apart, the publisher of Designing for Touch, also just released 2 new titles that I’m waiting to get in the mail as I type this. I wanted to mention them as they are relevant to my work right now and knowing the quality of A Book Apart, I’m sure these will be amazing.

Responsive Design: Patterns and Principles by Ethan Marcotte (@beep)

Written by the guy that coined RWD, this is a must read. Here is the description: “As responsive design evolves, we have a critical need to think about design challenges beyond mobile, tablet, and desktop. When properly designed and planned, design patterns—small, reusable modules—help your responsive layout reach more devices (and people) than ever before. Ethan Marcotte shows you just how that’s done, focusing on responsive navigation systems, re-sizing and adapting images, managing advertising in a responsive context, and broader principles for designing more flexible, device-independent layouts.”

SO GOOD! I CAN’T WAIT

Going Responsive by Karen McGrane (@karenmcgrane)

The reason I want to read this one is simply because I am a realist and this book sounds like it’s trying to teach people the truth about the real world of design. From being on both the agency side and client side there are a lot of challenges that come along with “going responsive.”

I read Karen’s book “Content Strategy for Mobile” and I’m sure this one will not disappoint. Here is the description: “Responsive design is more than the technical; it’s a new way of communicating and working that affects every person on your team. Karen McGrane draws on data and stories from real-world teams to show you why going responsive is just good business sense—and how to set up your project (from concept to launch) for total success. Learn how to plan and scope work, collaborate in a responsive context, evaluate content, handle browser support and testing, and measure performance outcomes. No matter your role or project, go responsive with confidence.”

Categories
Social Strategy

7 must-haves for your Twitter strategy

7 must-haves for your Twitter strategy | Blog | Twitter Counter.

Need to freshen your Twitter strategy skills? This is a decent and basic primer for when you get back into a situation when you need to think about tweeting more than what delicious microbrew you just had.

 

Categories
Articles Managing Strategy

Why “I Don’t Know” should be encouraged

I would love to write long, though out post about the what I saying “I don’t know” really means, but G. Jason Head beat me to it and he’s spot on. A highly recommended read.

Three words that strike fear and disgust in project managers, creative directors and especially account executives in agencies across the globe.

Me? Well as a web developer and manager I embrace them.

I think it’s high time that we got rid of the stigma attached to “I Don’t Know”. This is especially relevant in the web development industry – where the technologies we use come and go as fast as the speed of light.

He makes some great points in this and it’s been my experience as a designer and as a manager that when interviewing candidates or talking with my team hearing someone say “I Don’t Know” typically is a positive. I appreciate it,  I expect it, and I want to know that the person I’m talking to is being honest and I can trust them.

For me it tells me that the person is self-aware. People that aren’t self-aware would try to bullshit their way through a question or a request and it becomes obvious immediately that they really have no clue what they are talking about. I am not sure why people try to do this. Like Head says in his article there is an old school stigma about it which is really sad and counter productive.

Head continues:

But you know who hates hearing this? Your colleagues who are not developers (especially those Client Service folks!). And I’m here to tell you that they need to lighten up a little bit. They should also want to hear you say this once in a while. It’s healthy. It’s normal. It tells your colleagues to trust you.

 

Categories
Design Development Mobile Strategy

Some think RWD isn’t the long-term solution for the mobile future???

Yesterday Brad Frost (@bradfrost) tweeted this:

The link lands you on an article from Mobile Marketer titled: Responsive Web design not a long-term solution to mobility: Forrester

Please take a minute to read this article so you can do this:

I can’t decide if this article is meant to stir the pot and get people like Brad, Luke, me, and any other RWD evangelist up in arms, or if they are serious. My fear is that the survey they took is legit and it is sadly eye opening OR as one person commented, “Guys, this is just a commercial for Moovweb who is trying to coin a term “Responsive Delivery”. Shameless.”

The article points out that RWD is too complex and that too much cost is associated with moving to RWD.

One of the main issues with responsive Web design is that it requires the code for a company’s existing Web assets to be completely rewritten, making the project more complex than some expected.

We didn’t really need proof that most sites have been put together like Lego’s over the years, plugging in things here, adding 3rd party software there, etc. The move to mobile is simply making these bad development decisions more visible. IT departments don’t want to admit they were wrong and I think it’s very short sighted of those involved to write RWD off:

“One of the biggest things that came out of this was that responsive Web design was viewed by the majority of the respondents as a tactical short-term solution,” said Mitch Bishop, chief marketing officer of Moovweb, San Francisco.

The comments on this post are great:

“This article is an example of what happens when non-developers write about development. Check your facts – RWD does not require companies to “rewrite their code base”. The whole point of RWD is to have one code base.

So many inaccuracies in this article, it boggles the mind.”

and this one is pretty much exactly what I thought the first time I read this garbage:

Have you lost your mind?

Responsive web design is all about the front-end. RWD itself DOES NOT require “back-end” changes unless the previous front-end and back-end code are poorly written and intertwined – and if so that is NOT the fault of RWD.

Who paid you to post this collage of gibberish, doubletalk, half-truths and outright lies?

Sigh.

Categories
Agencies Social Strategy

Social isn’t the “Golden Child” of Marketing? WHAT THE WHAT?

iMedia Connection just published an article about social and it’s lack of enthusiasm from marketers in 2014. The declining value of social marketing

I find it fascinating that marketers are coming to the conclusion that social really isn’t turning out to be the “one ring to rule them all” as some predicted just 3 years ago. But then again, if you were one to believe that, then shame on you for not understanding the industry in which you’ve decided to dedicate your career. None of this should really come as a surprise.

Here’s the breakdown and my take on the numbers:

  • 6% are new to social. – In other words: Um, where have you been? Welcome to the club but you’re probably just going to copy what others have done and not innovate at all in the medium.
  • 7.75% are happy campers. – In other words: The few that actually “GET IT”.
  • 10.5% are going to do something else. – In other words: Getting bored with it, and hate the social “experts” on their team.
  • 21% are dissatisfied with social marketing. – In other words: These are the companies and agencies that have old school traditional types running the show and they are too lazy and stupid to take the time to learn how to really make social work so they just give up.
  • 54.75% are stepping back and waiting. – In other words: The saddest of all of the numbers in this study. They know it can work, think they are the right type of brand to utilize social the proper way, but they just can’t find the right people to do the work and they are too afraid to tell the traditionals in their agency to bugger off and let us innovate and create. Agencies are afraid to ask for budgets for social and in-house departments can’t figure out how to show the ROI to the suits. So they will just wait it out and hope they don’t miss the boat on something big and get fired.

 

Categories
Agencies Design Strategy

There Is a Digital Talent Gap – Infographic

I found this infographic gem from a former MARC colleagues twitter feed (Courtney McHugh, follow her here: @courtneycostelnock) and it really solidified some feelings I’ve been having about the industry as of late: Where is the talent?

Check it:

Talent Gap
Where is the Digital Talent

 

Categories
Mobile Strategy

Googles Mobile SEO Algorithm Update Screams Responsive Web Design

A few days ago Google announced a change to their algorithm that really favors sites that are built using the best in class design patters of Responsive Web Design (RWD).

According to Search Engine Watch Google has really made the way you put together your mobile site even more important.

The main emphasis of their post is this: if in doubt, connect the user to the content they want on a non-mobile page, rather than direct them to an incorrect mobile-formatted page.

For instance, having a blanket redirect to your mobile homepage when the site detects a user is on a smartphone, despite the fact they have clicked on a deep link, has now been called out as an explicit no-no

I think we all probably believe that RWD in some form or another is the future of the mobile web, but this move by Google might just be the update that the rest of the world needed to push the strategy into the main stream. Clients are used to SEO conversations and so explaining this to them and getting them to realize they need a new Responsive site, should be a no-brainer.

Categories
Agencies Design Strategy

Confessions of a Big-Agency Top Digital Exec | Digiday

I read an article this morning and it’s one of the most depressing things I’ve read in a while. It’s depressing only because it’s so true. The last question/answer is the one that has been sticking with me the most:

If you were to start an agency from scratch, what would it look like?

You have to work out why you are doing what you do. If you want to make money, then there are two ways. Go to a big agency and just wait it out. Play by the rules, don’t try to change too much, but make the appearance that you are changing. Don’t fight for any real change or interesting work but enough not to get fired. But you probably have five years of that left. If you are lucky.

I find it amazing that we’re still 5 years out from agencies and their clients understanding digital. I thought we were 5 years out 9 years ago. Sigh.

Every now and then I see a glimmer of hope that things are progressing, but that usually gets quickly extinguished by something stupid like politics or ideas from a traditional creative POV that just reeks of “so 2004”.

I highly recommend reading this article. It’s excellent.

via Confessions of a Big-Agency Top Digital Exec | Digiday.

Categories
Strategy UX

Fighting Hackers: Everything You’ve Been Told About Passwords Is Wrong | Wired Opinion | Wired.com

This is an excellent article about how crappy your password probably is.

Security is not just about strong encryption, good anti-virus software, or techniques like two-factor authentication. It’s also about the “fuzzy” things … involving people. That’s where the security game is often won or lost. Just ask Mat Honan.

We – the users – are supposed to be responsible, and are told what to do to stay secure. For example: “Don’t use the same password on different sites.” “Use strong passwords.” “Give good answers to security questions.” But here’s the troublesome equation:

more services used = more passwords needed = more user pain

… which means it only gets harder and harder to follow such advice. Why? Because security and practicality are in conflict.

Read the whole article here:
Fighting Hackers: Everything You’ve Been Told About Passwords Is Wrong | Wired Opinion | Wired.com.