Nordic Design - A Design blog by Alex Lillo
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Why you shouldn't get obsessed with templates
11 / Feb / 2012
Years ago I had a problem every time I used a new UX technique, I suffered from lack of template mental lock-out.
Like a writer facing a blank paper, I felt the urgency of having a good template to use as a starting point for my work. Probably I didn’t have enough confidence on my skills, so I relied on finding a good template and filling the gaps in them.
Wrong. I was completely wrong.
Persona template by Joanne Richardson
No two projects are the same. You’ll always face different constraints, challenges and therefore your outputs should vary. Obviously using always the same template will improve your deliverables, and checking what others have done before is a great source of inspiration. But you don’t need a template to start working.
Imagine you need to create a content matrix. Years ago I’ll look for an Excel template on Google. That’s not the path to follow. You should ask yourself what is the key information you need to capture. Because others use different fields doesn’t mean you are doing it wrong, or your work has less quality. Other people simply have other needs.
And don’t forget to ask your peers and clients about what they need. A clear and honest communication is always a good foundation to build trust. If your development team needs a design specification, ask them to clarify what level of detail they need. What is relevant and what’s superflous. Also check with clients what are you going to deliver. Show them examples. If you agree with them what the outputs are going to be nobody will find an unpleasant surprise at the end of the road.
So next time you feel the urge of finding a template, ask yourself what is the objective of the document, and what information you need to capture in order to fulfil that goal. You’ll find the process much easier and enjoyable that you expect.
Published in: User Experience,
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Crop images in Omnigragffle
23 / Jan / 2012
Omnigraffle is a great wireframing software, but it has some drawbacks. One of them is not being able to crop images. Well, there’s a solution for that.
Thanks to my colleague Jakub I’ve found a script that allow us to crop an image with another object. Instructions and file can be found on this forum thread, but I’ll add some extra steps to clarify.
How to install the script
- First you have to activate the Script menu. But the AppleScript Utility that says the forum doesn’t exist anymore. You have to open the AppleScript Editor, go to its Preferences and activate Show Script menu in menu bar.
- (Optional) Personally I prefer having the application scripts at the top, rather than the bottom.
- Time to open Omnigraffle. You should see the scripts icon in the menu bar. Open it and select Open OmniGraffle Pro Scripts Folder.
- Move the uncompressed script file to that folder.
- You’re now ready to crop! Just select the image to crop and the shape you’re going to use to crop it, go to the scripts menu and you’ll find Crop image. Select and that’s it!
Hope you find it useful. Thanks to Bill Van Hecke and Lizard who created the script, and if you have any question about how to use it feel free to ask in the comments.
Published in: User Experience,
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The blog redesign, step by step
20 / Oct / 2011
As part as the blog update I want to do an exercise: share the process, step by step.
I see it not only as a way to get back to a writing routine, but also to assure that I follow the right design methodology, without skipping steps. Something quite common in my past redesigns, I have to say.
I’ll go through the process of conceptual design, setting certain requirements, creating the initial idea, developing wireframes and visual design for, finally, code it.
I want to follow a content first, responsive web design approach. Ideally it would help me to define a responsive UX methodology.
We’re used to design fixed layouts, create variations, annotate them and deliver a beautiful set of A3 or A4 wireframes. Although most of the steps are unaffected, the responsive approach requires more wireframes and a lot more testing, if we want to deliver the best experience.
Hopefully, I’ll have something to write every 1 or 2 weeks. That means I don’t plan to launch the new website until 2012 but, let’s be honest, I don’t spend that much time working on it at home. A men has to enjoy his life too.
Any suggestions will be much appreciated, of course.
Stay tuned, I hope you’ll find it interesting.
Published in: User Experience, Design
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2004-2012 - Alex Lillo. Publicado bajo Licencia CreativeCommons. Mantenido con textpattern. 