A presentation at SmashingConf Freiburg 2015 in in Freiburg, Germany by Simon Collison
BEING ESSENTIAL Simon Collison | @colly The Designer’s Guide to
WHO WE ARE
ABOUT US
ABOUT BEING HUMAN
Trousers slide
RECONNECTING
DISCONNECTING
DISCONNECTING
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn. John Muir
RECONNECTING
HUMANS. INDIVIDUALS.
AM I A BETTER DESIGNER?
AM I A BETTER DESIGNER?
MY LIFE IS MODULAR
I move things around until they look right.
Milton Glaser
I move things around until they look right.
Milton Glaser
I move things around until they look right.
Milton Glaser
WHEN I WAS A KID…
WHEN I WAS A KID…
THIS IS WHO WE ARE
THE DEATH OF WEB DESIGN
THE DEATH OF WEB DESIGN
THE DEATH OF WEB DESIGN
DESIGN EVOLVES
MACHINES
[A designer is] a planner with an aesthetic sense.
Bruno Munari
EMPATHY
How will you prove you’re be ! er than a machine? Travis Gertz h ! ps://louderthanten.com/articles/story/design-machines
TOOLS
SHOULD WE CODE?
HTML is not code. It's markup.
Just like typese ! ing. Which is firmly in the realm of designers. Mark Boulton
HTML is not code. It's markup.
Just like typese ! ing. Which is firmly in the realm of designers. Mark Boulton
http://tools.subtraction.com
BRAINS. IDEAS. REALISATION.
BRAINS. IDEAS. REALISATION.
BRAINS. IDEAS. REALISATION.
BRAINS. IDEAS. REALISATION.
BRAINS. IDEAS. REALISATION.
MY TEAM
MY TEAM
DELIVERABLES
http://smacss.com
http://daverupert.com/2013/04/responsive-deliverables
http://filamentgroup.com/lab/grade_components/
http://pattern-lab.info/
LANGUAGE
LANGUAGE
Find problems and design responses. Not answers, not solutions. Responses.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy . Jack Torrance
FLEXIBILITY
KEEP LEARNING
@colly THANK YOU
"I move things around until they look right,” confessed veteran designer Milton Glaser. This is delightfully unpretentious — and Simon’s favourite quote — yet it’s not quite so easy for today’s digital designer. He or she must not only make things look right, but also embrace new methodologies, new tools, be essential to a team, be mindful of limitations, and wrestle with the suggestion that websites are all but redundant. As this practical argument will explain, there’s nothing for any of us to worry about, so long as every thing — and every one — is a module.
for free. You
can too.