After being a good boy in 2009 Father Christmas brought me three great design books. I can’t wait to get stuck into them and will post a book review on each very soon.

The three books are:

The Web Designer’s Idea Book

A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web

The Smashing Book

Now, what one should I start with…

Great new feature on Wii Fit plus game that my wife got at Christmas. You are now able to add your baby so your can weigh them using the balace board.

The digital Reeve family now exists. Just need to remember to use it, instead of playing the new Super Mario.

Had a brilliant 1st Christmas with my beautiful daughter Olivia. She really enjoyed her first piece of chocolate, although it was very messy. Can’t wait till next Christmas already.

First post using wordpress iPhone app by the way, it works a treat!

Coming soon…

I was the lead designer on the HPA website redesign project. Where I was tasked develop a new look and feel for the entire site, to make it easier to navigate and to ensure it was fully accessible.

The project required many rounds of user consultation that helped to refine the designs from the 2 distinct design concepts, into a final design. The new design that was created has been used as the new style for the HPA brand. A great deal of work was also put into addressing the content to enable the HPA to engage with the variety of audiences that would visit the site, from the person in the street to doctors.

Overall the site is easy to navigate, has a clearly defined IA and consitent look and feel. The site has been greatly received internally and by medical professionals who now believe the new site is able to showcase the great work that the HPA does. It meets AA accessibility guidelines and also has a high contrast version of the site for people who are visually impaired.

Website URL: hpa.org.uk

 

It is one of the best pick up/put down books I have read, with great interviews from top design professionals such as Neville Brody. The frank approach to advice from an industry guru is easy to relate to, whilst providing an insightful view into a designers mind. It is also a great looking book with unique front cover and content layout.

I highly recommend this book, buy from Amazon.co.uk

Author webite: Adrian Shaughnessy – This is Real Art

Logo Design Trends 2009

Apple vs. Microsoft – A Website Usability Study

Elements of Great Web Design: The Polish

Open Letter to Adobe

Evolution of Photoshop: 1988 – 2009

I started with Photoshop 5 and before that with one of Paint Shop Pro’s early incarnations, oh how I remember those early days of design. The excitement of the bevel and the over use of the drop shadow.

Its been a while since my last blog post but there has been good reason for this…

The arrival of my beautiful daughter Olivia, born 12th May 2009.

Well done Michelle you were fantastic and I need to apologise for the quantity of pics I will take, already taken over 2 gig worth. Oh well, with a 8gb card its hard not to try and fill it up.

There are many design forums which are out there, but many do not have a very high calibre of member which means that the standard of design work showcased is poor. I think it is key to seek the opinions of peers who have skills in the design field and can provide competent rationale when critiquing work.

With this in mind I recommend the following design forums:

Typophile – my favourite.

Smashing Magazine Forum – nice addition to the SM website.

Estetica Design Forum – great general discussion.

Designers Talk – all things design are discussed.

Designate Online – design talk plus other random submissions.

All of these sites provide a great platform for debate on the many different areas of design, check them out.

When you first stumble across Twitter you only think it is another way of publishing status updates, very much in the same style as Facebook. This is not the case as it is much more than that, sure you get random Twitterings of the people you follow but you also get a constant stream of links, thoughts, photos etc. I have found this to be a really valuable source to see the thinking /workings of like-minded designers as well as industry professionals. It is also a great way to provoke debate and receive feedback in a concise and snappy way. This is helped by the the 140 character limit on any one Twitter.

Twitter has now started to enter the mainstream consciousness and I believe this is a really good thing. The more fellow designers, industry professionals as well as website updates that are posted the better. Also more and more websites themselves are Twittering to try and connect with users of their sites. This really helps to engage with their audience and provides a platform to promote their content as well as interact with follows on Twitter. Here are my favourite Twitters:

Websites -

http://twitter.com/ilovetypography
http://twitter.com/101bestwebsites
http://twitter.com/colourlovers
http://twitter.com/DesignerDepot
http://twitter.com/smashingmag
http://twitter.com/fubiz
http://twitter.com/cssmania
http://twitter.com/popurls
http://twitter.com/FontFont
http://twitter.com/designerstalk

Professionals -

http://twitter.com/abduzeedo
http://twitter.com/Hicksdesign
http://twitter.com/markboulton
http://twitter.com/penflare
http://twitter.com/chrisspooner
http://twitter.com/justcreative
http://twitter.com/ryancarson
http://twitter.com/mj12982
http://twitter.com/larissameek
http://twitter.com/vpieters

Individuals -

http://twitter.com/pennjillette
http://twitter.com/Wossy
http://twitter.com/Dave_Gorman
http://twitter.com/iainlee
http://twitter.com/richardpbacon
http://twitter.com/RealDMitchell
http://twitter.com/charltonbrooker
http://twitter.com/misterwallace
http://twitter.com/Herring1967
http://twitter.com/timlovejoy

Follow me on Twitter -

http://twitter.com/jamesreeve