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Why a concept?

A concept gives a designer a vision to work with. A theme to follow. A goal to aim towards. It is the subconscious end that will(should) guide all of your decisions. If your concept is “A rainy day”, you will font that expresses that. You might choose blue as your main color. You might choose a layout or certain effects that make you think of sadness and rain. Suddenly you find yourself having ideas based on this concept, and you have a definite direction to go towards. If you have new ideas, you can always compare them to the concept, and see if it fits.

Your concept will guide and inspire the sketching process. You won’t choose blue because you like blue, or a 1 column layout because you like it, but because it fits with your concept. Suddenly, you have a completed piece, with it’s fitting parts that make up that piece. Not just different parts that are trying to fit like puzzle pieces that don’t belong together. The difference is immediately apparent and powerful.

How do you get a concept?

If happen to be designing a page about an artist, you need need to research that artist. Write down words that come to mind. Words like powerful, dressing, provocative, words that are descriptive. I have found time and again, that I will write these words down, until the words cause images to flash in my head. Images of possible designs. I then sketch these images on paper, and explore those options if I like them. If I don’t I keep going on with my concept.

Once I have my concept, I should try to stick with it as much as I can. The finished piece will be better if I do, because each part will have a sense of belonging. It will feel like it is adding to the piece by being there. Not just there as decoration, or as a crutch, but because it helps express the overall theme or emotion of the piece.

It’s human nature to need interaction in a time of ever decreasing social abilities.

I enjoy reading blogs. I enjoy reading the comments that go back and forth. I enjoy reading about Design and other teachnical stuff.

Two blogs I have started reading regularly have sparked this: Northtemple and I hereby Decree.

Both are very much worth my time. Oftentimes I have questions. I don’t understand what’s being referred to. Or, I feel strongly on the subject. Let me talk to you. Let me give my opinion. Let me interact with you. Let me be human. So please, give me a voice. Allow commenting, and I promise, I will comment.

Frequently when I ask somebody if Task A “can be done”, I get the typical ” No, that can’t be done.” or “I would require a LOT of work”. Well, here’s my declaration to the world:” People who say it can’t be done are usually dead wrong“.

I can’t even count the times an “expert” has told me something can’t be done, and (oftentimes) with just a little research I figured a way to do, what “couldn’t be done”. So here’s to you. Don’t take no for an answer. Ask why it can’t be done, and then try to solve that hindrance. You will have amazing results.

Please, leave me a comment and tell me how you feel about this.

Usability is giving the user what they expect. Giving it to them in a simple, easy manner to avoid frustration. Why keep the user happy? If they get frustrated, they won’t come back. This means lost opportunities, lost customers, and in many cases, lost money.

Here’s an experience I had just the other day on blockbuster.com. We’ve been using their online rental service for a few weeks now. I had the movie “Next” at the top of my queue. It was Monday morning, and Blockbuster was about to ship out a movie 5 or 6 hours later from my queue.

I didn’t want to receive the movie in the mail. I changed my mind. So I went to my queue, and hit “delete” for that movie. The screen refreshed, but nothing happened. So I tried it again, same result. Very frustrating. It’s like driving a car, turning left, but the car goes right. Or hitting the brakes, and they don’t work. Would you continue using that car? I wouldn’t. I am the user, and I want to be in control. That’s what I expect.

So then I just moved “Next” to the end of the queue, so I wouldn’t receive it. That seemed to work. Well, guess what happened the next day? I received “Next” in the mail. What the?!? What’s the point of having a queue if it doesn’t behave the way I want it to?

After complaining to customer service they explained that it there is a certain time period where the movie is being prepared to ship out and it cannot be reversed. I guess that’s fine, but tell the USER about it. Several weeks ago the same thing happened, but when I tried to delete, an error message came up. Several times. That is NOT user-friendly. If there has to be a delay, tell me about it. I can live that. But no message.

As a result, I am seriously considering canceling with Blockbuster and trying their major competitor. Chances are that other customers feel the same way. Just because the site didn’t behave like I wanted to. Just because it wasn’t usable.

I just started my internship as a UI Designer at USAA (usaa.com). I’ll be here in San Antonio for the next 4 months. I’ll update this site as soon as I can.