design reverb

Well, looks like I finally get to take a few days off. After the last couple of months of late night coding and design, it will be nice to finally get away from the keyboard. Gonna hit up the slopes for the first time this season. I can’t wait. Got my board all tuned and ready to rock! I’ve been snowboarding since 1988, and no, I’ve never ever been skiing. Hence the great saying below.

The pics below are from around 1992, when I lived in Salt Lake City, Utah. I worked nights so I could board during the day. The right pic is me at Brighton, one of my favorite places to board. My buddy and I took a pre-season hike up Alta (left pic) and did some backcounty boarding. It was awesome, at least till they kicked us out. Luckily they didn’t confiscate our gear, but just told us to go home. Alta, you see, is a snobbish “Ski Only” resort, but they have some really nice hits and cliff jumps.

I really love to go backcountry, and love to go full speed, while still hitting every hit/burm/jump I see. So here’s hoping the coverage is good, so I don’t come home tweaked. Heard good things from my cousin about the conditions at Brighton and SnowBird in Utah, and well Big Bear in So Cal, is well, So Cal, so I will hope for the best there.

A post on a clients user forum got me thinking about what makes good design. The user had remarked that design was a crapshoot. Here’s the post:

This thread explains to a degree why the art of design, and web design in particular, is such a crapshoot. Taste is such an undefinable thing.

I got to thinking. If taste is such a undefinable thing, how come so many good designs out there are recognized as being good?

I don’t believe design is a crapshoot. The understanding of basic design principles such as repetition, contrast, alignment, proximity as well as some understanding of color theory helps immensely in design. Especially web design, where most “designers” learn Photoshop and set up shop. Design is not something that you can buy from Adobe. It is a continual learning process. While fads and trend will come and go, and individual tast may vary, the essence of good design remains unchanged.

For you new designers out there with no formal training, I offer this link to a book my wife found most useful.

Its The Non-Designers Design Book, Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice, by Robin Williams. (no not the comedian)

Another great book I still have from when I was in college is Design Basics by David Lauer and Stephen Pentak. This book goes into more depth and is a must read for any beginning designer.