Pittsburgh Web Design Day 2012

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Just got back from Web Design Day, hosted by Refresh Pittsburgh, Pgh’s web design meetup group. After a day of excellent presentations by some excellent speakers, excellent drinks and snacks were had at Commonwealth Press for the after party. #WDD2012 win, I’m definitely looking forward to next year. Thanks to Val and Jason Head for…


Just got back from Web Design Day, hosted by Refresh Pittsburgh, Pgh’s web design meetup group. After a day of excellent presentations by some excellent speakers, excellent drinks and snacks were had at Commonwealth Press for the after party. #WDD2012 win, I’m definitely looking forward to next year. Thanks to Val and Jason Head for all their hard work. Anyways, here are some disjointed notes from a few of the presentations (there were other very good ones I didn’t have notes on, so sorry):

Kevin Hoffman: Designing Meetings to Work For

How much information does a person retain when:

  • Listening – 20%
  • Seeing – 30%
  • Discussing – 70%
  • Making & Managing – 90%

In large meetings, designate people for these four roles:

  1. Facilitator: a neutral person, listens to group member ideas and does not add their own.
  2. Recorder: Someone to capture ideas publicly, a graphic facilitator. White board it up.
  3. Group Member: Everyone else, those contributing the ideas.
  4. Leader: A person to decide why you are having the meeting, its goals, and the outcome. Assumes the role of a Group Member during said meeting.

Collaborative Deliverables: Why not wireframe as a group? Print out a large version of what is being redesigned and mark it up together. Have a group sketching session.

Meagan Fisher: Becoming a Web Design Champion: How to Better Collaborate, Develop Your Style, and Get Designs Launched

Vary your sources of inspiration – if you are making a website, don’t just look at websites. Go to a museum or read a graphic design book.

Get input early and often.

Hovering Art Directors

Have a hack week: take a week off and work on a completely different project. They often turn into important compliments to your main gig, or meaningful work on their own. Check out ChartBeat Labs.

Geoff Barnes: It’s 2012 & I’m Still Writing “Should web designers know how to code?” On All My Checks

Don’t say should. Maybe is a better word – it implies that we don’t have sufficient knowledge to make a statement, should implies judgement and guilt. I do hate that word.

Book: Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz

Confirmation Bias: When everything you hear confirms what you think you know.

Creativity is a mood. An open minded mood.

Rephrase judgements as questions.

Play is good. Conditions for play:

  1. Space
  2. Time
  3. Confidence (shed your Confirmation Bias)
  4. Humor

Two kinds of play:

  1. Artistic play: Like improv, interpretive dance, etc.
  2. Heady play: Subverting for humor, satire, be ridiculous on purpose, take everything literally (humorously).

Dan Mall: Hulkmania & Design

Yes, a Hulk themed presentation. Not as tacky as it might sound, and was possibly my favorite talk of the day. And as usual, another freaking beautiful slideshow.

Photo credit @Joeldinkel
About deliverables: a lot more goes into creating it than actually working on the thing – factor in other activities that will get you there. Taking a walk or going to the library may very well be more productive than adjusting a margin for 3 hrs.

Be a client: We spend so much time thinking about and trying to please clients, but have we ever been a client? Try to find a way to be a client, maybe offer a website in exchange for a logo, etc.

Article: The Genius of the Tinkerer

Most Awesomest Thing Ever – this site was a side project and got 9 million hits in 3 days. Or something like that. I can’t really remember why this was relevant, but it was.


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