FIRST THINGS FIRST

I think it’s a good time for me to step up and write more. In fact it’s a good time for everyone to write more and express their opinions. Design blogs are a bit showcase heavy these days and it’s beneficial to balance the visual inspirations with some thought and observation—well at least that’s my goal anyway. The most successful “design/software” blogs in my mind are pretty highly opinionated, for example 37 Signals and Subtraction. I’m not saying they’re always correct, but it’s their opinions and personal point of views that make them engaging and keep me wanting to come back (even though at times I disagree with them).

Jeffery Zeldman put it pretty clearly: Anyone can write a how-to. Not everyone thinks to write a why. Though there are people who are very good at writing the how-to’s and kudos to them! In fact I’ll probably write some, but will do my best to say why I think the how- to’s should be to’s :)

The second excuse for re-starting this blog is to practice some design. The goal is to have each post be art directed in a similar fashion to Jason Santa Maria’s articles. This first post is minimally directed using the numeral at the top. The design decision is based off of a rule from Paul Rand that states; numbers can possess the same quality and power as other graphics (such as pictures and letters) and create a sense of rhythm and immediacy.

So here’s to more writing and more designing!