Surfing Lessons
Hawaiian Style
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For any of you who don’t already know it, I am ICServ’s version of the Prodigal Son. That’s right, just under a year ago I jammed a suitcase full of computer components, graphics software, design books, and a few non-essentials that my wife made me bring (like clothes and toothpaste) and took it down to the airport so that a guy wearing blue pajamas and plastic earmuffs could “shot-put” it into an airplane. A bag of peanuts and an in-flight movie later I found myself getting off the plane in sunny Hawaii where I have lived ever since.
One of the things that I have learned here in Hawaii is that surfing is serious business. Now for the Idahoans out there who only have two seasons (winter one and winter two), surfing is where you take a long board out into the ocean and swim around after it all day because you keep falling off. For a good web designer, however, surfing is a matter of life and death.
Those of us in the Internet industry are pretty familiar with the term surfing, and most of us have spent some time surfing the web. I would suggest, however, that good graphic and web designers are more than just casual web visitors but are expert surfers. Throughout this article I’ll explain how becoming an expert surfer will improve your web graphics and web designs immensely. You as a web designer can gain valuable and often hidden information by surfing the web.
Inspiration, Information, Investigation
As a designer, spending time surfing the web can be extremely productive. It can also be a big fat waste of time if you don’t know what you’re looking for and how to find it. Generally, I find that in the course of my duties as a web designer and graphic guru, time that is well spent surfing the web is time spent with a purpose. And usually that purpose can fit into one of three categories: Inspiration, Information, or Investigation.
Inspiration
Every designer, at one time or another, has suffered from a serious condition that I call Monkeyitis. This is where the brain goes completely limp and loses all ability to process anything even remotely creative. The term Monkeyitis comes from the striking similarity that a designer who is suffering from this condition has to a monkey sitting in a college calculus class. People can walk by and even talk to the designer, and rarely get anything more than a short grunt followed by a string of drool. Others call this disease designer’s block. Fortunately, there is a cure.
One of the most effective ways to get over designer’s block is to go out and surf the web for inspiration. Good designers, however, don’t just surf around randomly hoping to find something that inspires them. One of the first things that I do when I run into designer’s block or even when I just need inspiration for a project that I’m working on is to go visit web sites that I know are well designed. Here’s how:
1. I have created a folder in the favorites menu of my web browser labeled Good Design. Any time I am out on the web and I run into a site that I like or that has some design element that impresses me I will take a second to save it into my Good Design folder. Later, when I am struggling with a project or can’t come up with something creative I will go to my Good Design folder and just start going through web pages - It doesn’t take long before the ideas start flowing.
2. There are quite a few sites out there that are dedicated to showing off well designed web pages. One of the best that I have found is http://www.coolhomepages.com. Time spent surfing through and learning from award winning web sites is often time well spent.
3. One of the Guerilla Warfare tactics that I often employ is to take advantage of the money spent by the big guys. It is no secret that many of the large Fortune 500 companies spend huge amounts of money researching and designing corporate sites. Often, I will visit large company web sites to see what they’re doing. If I start to see a trend, it’s a good bet that some research is behind it and I will take advantage of it by following suit. Because these companies also tend to pay for world-class designs, this is also a great way to get inspiration and beat designer’s block.
Information
Back in the dark ages (the 80’s), the Internet was only used to transmit information back and forth. Contrary to popular belief, that is still its main function today. As a designer you need to know where to get answers to your questions. I haven’t had any formal education on the programs that I use every day. I learn by trial and error and a lot of searching the web.
If you are trying to find the answer to a question about your graphics software (or anything else for that matter) the web is a goldmine waiting to be opened. Here are some of the most valuable resources that I have found for finding answers:
Company Web Sites
This one is a given, but it still deserves a mention. If you purchase graphics software from a company, especially high-end graphics programs like Photoshop or Flash, you should know that company’s web site (or at least the Support section) like the back of your hand. Most companies put a huge amount of information about their products out on the web because it is cheaper for them to build a quality support section into their web site than it is to have a huge tech support staff to answer every single question.
Discussion Boards
Perhaps the most useful tool on the web is the discussion board. For most graphics products and just about anything else that has to do with web design you can find a good discussion board full of experts who are more than glad to help out. Discussion boards are particularly nice in that you can ask a specific question and get specific answers. The downside is that you have to wait for the answer, but if it’s a tough question it will be worth the wait. Here are some examples of good discussion board communities:
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Technical Journals
Many times technical journals and informational web sites have great product reviews, links, tips and discussion boards. One great example is ZDNet and another that is right up there is Internet.com. One of the best resources for those of you using PhotoImpact (which we include with Hands-On Training) is the PhotoImpact Resource Center page. Take advantage of this information – those that are successful in the Internet industry are those who know about the industry. I usually spend at least a few minutes every day browsing through Technical Journals for answers to some of the questions that I have run into, and for new happenings and trends in the design world.
Investigation
As a young boy I loved to take things apart to see how they worked. In my house, there was no mechanical device that was safe from my clutches – and I mean that literally. I recall times when Dad would be out in the garage working on the car and make the mistake of taking a break and leaving the hood up. By the time he was back I would have loosened every bolt, pulled every lever, unlatched every latch, and drained every fluid in the entire car. And sometimes, if he took too long, I could even manage to reduce each of his tools down into little piles of scrap metal and grease.
In all honesty, I haven’t changed much from when I was a kid. If ever I run into something that I don’t understand, I take it to pieces until I know what is going on. As a designer in the Internet industry, technology is moving too fast for you to sit still. Utilize the web to try out and investigate new software products – most companies offer free trial versions of their software. Pay attention and research what the industry is doing and capitalize on it. If you don’t understand something that you would like to, use the web to "take it apart." Here are some of the tactics that I use:
1. If you see something you like on a page and you would like to know how to do it, you can view the source code (the HTML) for some good clues. In Windows you do this by right clicking on the page and selecting view source.
2. Don’t hesitate to use email. Often if I come across something that I like, and I can’t figure out how to do it on my own, I will email the person who created it. Usually they are flattered and glad to give me information on what they did.
3. If you can just figure out the name of something, you can find information on it through search engines. Here’s a tip, however. Don’t just settle for one search engine. Utilize a meta-search tool like dogpile.com that actually searches all of the major search engines at once.
Let me give you an example of how this has proven beneficial to me. Not long ago Kip Nield, ICServ’s Marketing Director, asked me to design a banner ad that could be put out on the web. As I wasn’t completely certain about what made a banner ad tick, I immediately began researching by searching the Internet for studies, patterns, and statistics on banner ads. It wasn’t until I had spent about an hour in investigation that I got down to designing the ad. In tracking the results for that banner ad we found that the number of hits on that ad was almost 10 times what the previous ad had been getting! The success could be attributed almost entirely to the time spent in investigation.
Get good at using the Internet for investigation. Most importantly, don’t ever just do a job. Take the time to research and investigate to learn the best way to do a job. If there were one thing that I could ingrain into the head of all up and coming web designers it would be that each project you complete should be backed up by good solid research. If you don’t understand something or don’t know the best way to approach a project, use the web to investigate until you do! Remember, Good Design is More Science than Art.
Whether seeking inspiration for a project, enhancing your skill with a graphics program, or tracking the trends of the industry, the Internet is a designer’s best friend. The real difference between those who succeed in our business and those who don’t is that those who succeed know where to go for answers – and they can quickly learn new methods and new technology. I would encourage you to get very good at surfing and using the Internet as a tool much as you would your computer or your salad shooter (for those who happen to use a salad shooter). Good luck!
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