[ Originally posted to Centresource ]

As a designer I love the website Clients From Hell. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s essentially a collection of the crazy things clients say that make designers want to beat their head against a sharp pointed object.

I will go there sometimes just for comic-relief. It’s therapeutic knowing other designers are hearing things even worse than what I am dealing with.

Here are a few of my favorites …

[ Originally posted to Centresource ]

I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of my time “doing”.

Sometimes I know what I’m “doing”… however most of the time I am learning as I go with broad conceptual understanding, while at the same time pretending to be an expert. The professional world where most of us live floats primarily in the space between urgency and emergency. I can attest that is especially true in the interactive market where specialities, languages and platforms are constantly changing. As I get older (and maybe wiser), I am continuing to realize that dedicated time set aside for learning is not only few and far between but immensely valuable to progress …

[ Originally posted to Centresource ]

I started using the website Pinterest a few months ago and am, quite frankly, hooked.

The site allows you to create pages of collected items that interest you by simply clicking a bookmark in your browser’s bookmark bar. Upon clicking you can indicate what the item is and what “board” you’d like to add it to. You can also look at other people’s boards and comment on things they think are interesting. I use mine for books and items that I want… deleting them once I purchase or acquire them. However my wife uses hers as a repository for interior design ideas and fashion trends. The design of the site is super clean, extremely scalable and does a great job of visually featuring the products.

Amazing, right? …

[ Originally posted to Centresource ]

As a designer, I know at times it is real easy to get lazy about file management, organization and asset collection. Early on in my career I learned this the hard way by passive-agressive comments by over-worked, under-rested developers that were forced to work with my unorganized PSD’s. I always thought, “what’s the big deal?!?”

Then I walked a mile in their shoes …

[ Originally posted to Centresource ]

We just went through the process of interviewing for some UI Design positions to join our growing team. We were fortunate to have some really great applicants to choose from and are extremely happy with how things are turning out. Now that we are on the other side, it allows me a moment to reflect. Every time I go through this exciting & exhausting process I feel like I learn more about what a good applicant looks like. That is, until I saw a post by Ryan Carson …

[ Originally posted to Centresource ]

For most (okay, maybe all) designers, “revisions” is a dreaded suicide mission that often leads to creative carnage and sub-portfolio worthy work. You just invested all of your creative juices into this award-worthy project, presented to the client and now they are asking for a classier font, a warmer blue and something, you know, swooshing + guttural sound + beep, beeping across the screen. What?!? What are you talking about??? Surely some designers know how to avoid this arbitrary mine field. I mean, amazing, un-compromised websites come out all the time – how do those designers avoid revision quicksand?

Let me offer a few tips …