Susan Engel » design

Wireframes – Paper Browser

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:58:42 +0000

and yet another wireframing aid – paper browser – here you can download printable browser templates, but the actual notebooks look even better – here. these could be really handy if you like working things out on paper.
i want one of those!

found via wdl

Wireframes – MockingBird

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:53:37 +0000

in the never-ending quest for wireframing tools i have found my perfect match. mocking bird and me, we will go a long way :)
i have been using this nifty online tool for sometime now and must say i’m still to find any shortcomings*. it seems perfect. a beautifully intuitive interface, a library of ready made elements, recently added colour options, resizable canvas size, the cross-linking – it’s all there. it’s easy to share with clients by sending them a link to interactive ‘front-end’ version.
in a recent b2b project it proved to be the life saver between us trying to determine information logic and the client trying to explain to us the way product pricing should work. i don’t have to tell anyone that wireframes make it easier to walk the client through how things will work, but it’s also easy to then add notes and use it as navigation for developement. what more could you want? well – it’s free. i hope it remains so or at least the price is reasonable when it comes out of beta.
go mockingbird!

*it currently doesn’t work in IE so when sending to clients you have to make sure they can view it in FF, Safari, Opera etc..

Wireframes – FlairBuilder

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:38:53 +0000

another great product for wireframing – FlairBuilder

i have just been offered a chance to test drive and it looks very promising. it’s a local application, the installer is in AIR – very quick and efficient.
i like how it stars with an already open half-done project, with few pages and templates to get you started. the program itself is quite easy to use and very intuitive. it has an extensive library of easily adjustable components and a number of very handy features – i.e. lets you duplicate existing pages rather than build each from scratch.

all in all a very handy tool!

What do you do?

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:44:23 +0000

@leemunroe asked today:

Quick question for web designers: When someone asks you “What do you do?” what is your reply? e.g. web designer, ux designer, webmaster…

I see a lot of buzz online about this recently..

For some time the ‘online world building business’, as I call it, has been getting more complicated and developing into more disctinct specialisms. But..

On one side there are clients and for most this is all quite too complicated. Most clients, not all of course, still end up with the inevitable ‘so you design websites, right?’

The other side – the industry, seems to be asking the question now too. Personally, i don’t think any of the online jobs can, and do, exist in a vacuum: they are all interlinked and to be an expert in one you need solid knowledge of the others. I usually describe what I do as ‘user experience design’. But that is sometimes down to the project I work on, depending on the size and extensity I act as the designer + information architect + project manager in one. If the project is more advanced you need to fill in all those roles separately, but they are intertwined and all of these experts will interact and influence each other. Moreover, having knowledge in all web production areas definitely helps in becoming better at your specialism. Great article about Homo Universalis here.

print mounts from eframe.co.uk

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:32:07 +0000

i have been looking for photo mounts and stumbled upon this fab website: http://www.eframe.co.uk
you can order mounts cut to any size you need and in any quantity, i have ordered black mount with black core but it looks like all sorts are available too. very cooll!
can’t wait to get my frames now!

Wireframes

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:30:19 +0000

in my ongoing quest for the perfect wireframing utility i have come across EightShapes and iPlotz this week.
EightShapes is a set of deliverables and wireframing templates for a variety of softwares, InDesign and OmniGraffle included. Looks very promising and it’s free, which is always a good thing. it wouldn’t need internet acess as you’d run it locally which could be very handy too.
iPlotz – a full application running in your browser window – i’ve just tried the online demo, and it looks great, it’s very easy and intuitive to use. it could become a great tool for online collaboration.
will be trying out and will keep you posted :D

klok

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:14:43 +0000

finally found a great time tracking app: klok is here to stay, i say!
i have tested quite a few applications and the only other one i could recommend is Time Tracking – great application AIR based as well, but i needed to add my projects and clients via the browser, which added too much hassle to the whole thing.
now klok seems very intuitive, straightforward to use and although it’s still in beta, it already feels like a very well thought out application. it’s an AIR app so sits quietly on my screen and works across operating systems as well. i’ll be trying it out now so watch this space!

my rock band :D

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:12:37 +0000

got this game from a friend designer and so here’s my rock band album cover:

my band is called federal investigations agency and needles to say they are the coolest band in the world :D

and here are the instruction to make yours:

1 – Go to “wikipedia.” Hit “random… Read More”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 – Go to “Random quotations”
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 – Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 – Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

(the original photo i drew is here)

for all typophiles

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:57:14 +0000

new cool toy for creating word clouds, quite nifty too! – Wordle
Here’s mine:

Dell Studio Hybrid

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:33:47 +0000

well i never….
design and Dell in one sentence – YES. Finally.

its small, it’s powerful, and it LOOKS GOOD. the stylish design can be personalised with 6 colours, or the uber-cool bamboo sleeve. AND it’s environmentally friendly and energy efficient. WELL DONE.