A lot has changed since then. I should do a full recap!

This blog, and the website are long overdue a refresh. I set this site up in 2009. I was doing a very different job, web development in a small agency dreaming on designing full time; fast-forward 6 years and I am a Designer for a company who’s website receives 2 million visitors a week – a number that staggers me.

The industry is forever changing, but this year for me as a front-ender it has changed most drastically. Embracing tools such as CodeKit and Grunt mean that assets are optimised in fractions of a second with no hassle. I really don’t know why I stayed away from these things as long as I have – it reignited my interest in front-end development.

But I am at the stage of my career where I attempt to specialise in my profession. This year I was still programming PHP, HTML, SASS and working on wireframes and user testing. With focus comes a competence and authority in your opinions. So as much I have enjoyed coding I look to do less, apart from some functional wireframes where required.

2015 is where I really begin experimenting with A/B and MVT. Gathering feedback from users and designing improved experiences, and measuring these things. This is my future.

Design is not about the ‘creative’ – The fluffy, blue sky thinking where an idea will be magically plucked out of the air, and time is spent prettifying something.

Design is about making something for someone that doesn’t exist yet, and does something they need.

In short, design needs constraints. It needs a user, it needs a goal and it needs to be measurable.

Design must solve a problem.

For that reason design cannot and should not happen without research; lots of it.

Start thinking about who will use it, and how you can solve the problem for them. Don’t lose sight of the user. It has to work for them. They must be able to understand and be able to use it.

Design isn’t inspiration. It is observation.

Observe, learn, and understand. Always ask questions and figure out why it works.

Being a designer means constantly observing and understanding our surroundings.

Design is how it works. The whole thing. The visual part is just the tip of the iceberg.

Getting a big idea is not an act of inspiration, but one of discovery. Immerse yourself.

Observe the world around you, because design is everything. Everything.

To predict the future, we must design it.

Sublime Text 2 ($70) – sublimetext.com

Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, markup and prose.

Now, before you stop reading – I still use Dreamweaver, but purely as a text editor, and use Notepad++ on my PC, but this app had so many positive comments I have to check it out.

Coda ($75) – panic.com/coda

We revolutionized the process in Coda (of coding for the web), putting everything in one place. With Coda 2, we went beyond expectations.

First impressions are this is the nicest looking app – you can see why they won their Apple Design Award and this is equally as loved as Sublime Text 2. Tough choice here, but I think I’ll go for ST2.

Alfred App (free) – alfredapp.com

Alfred saves you time when you search for files online or on your Mac. Be more productive with hotkeys, keywords and file actions at your fingertips.

I can see how power users relish an app like this. Whilst this laptop won’t be my primary machine, now I have seen this app I want to check it out on my work machine.

Hammer ($23.99) – hammerformac.com

Forget writing front-end code the old way. Hammer will save you time.

Built not too far away from me by the Riot team in Bath, another beautiful app that has some very cool features to build static sites with the flexibility of things like header includes and variables.

CodeKit ($25)- incident57.com/codekit

CodeKit helps you build websites faster and better.

Another web development app that seems to do a lot of things by ‘magic’ including image optimisation and file minification.

TextWrangler (free) – barebones.com/products/textwrangler

TextWrangler is the “little brother” to BBEdit, our leading professional HTML and text editor for the Macintosh.

Although not as jazzy as some of the other apps listed, it is free – which is always a good price!

Other Apps

I had loads of apps suggested to me; far too many to list in detail so here is the full list:

Web Development Apps

• Mixture.io – http://mixture.io/
• Espresso – http://macrabbit.com/espresso/
• Transmit – http://panic.com/transmit/
• Forklift – http://www.binarynights.com/

Image Editing Apps

• Pixelmator – http://www.pixelmator.com/

Writing Apps/Text editors

• Writeroom – http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom
• Skrivener – https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php
• BBEdit – http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/
• Textsoap – http://www.unmarked.com/textsoap/
• Ommwriter – http://www.ommwriter.com/
• IA Writer – http://www.iawriter.com/mac/

Productivity Apps

• Flux – http://justgetflux.com/
• Divvy – http://mizage.com/divvy/
• Caffeine – http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/

Other Apps

• Curio – http://www.zengobi.com/products/curio/
• Billings – http://www.marketcircle.com/billingspro/
• Screenflow – http://screenflow.en.softonic.com/mac
• Homebrew – http://mxcl.github.io/homebrew/
• iTerm2 – http://www.iterm2.com/

Thanks to the following

This list was compiled thanks to tweets from the following people, @bobthomson70, @amberweinberg, @steffanwilliams, @sturobson, @caleuanhopkins, @lurkmoophy, @joaoserpa, @relequestual, @henderslam, @irphunky and @cole007. Thank you!

* prices as of 2 July 2013

On a mission, focused, determined. Popularized by the TV series the A-Team. When Hannibal Smith came up with a plan to defeat the bad guys, they always referred to him as “on the jazz.”

As a big A-Team fan this is a phrase I like using.

It is also a powerful state-of-mind to be in.

Nobody *ever* types the http:// unless they have to, and especially when that alone takes up 5% of the total tweet length.

And this Twitter URL thing makes the whole thing look even more ridiculous. I mean, why rewrite all of the domains, when the tweets become unreadable, especially if you want to refer to the domain name.

Does this annoy anybody else, or is it just me?

Being creative is one of the most important aspects of a designers life. You can’t turn creativity like a tap (if only!) but you can improve your creativity by how you work.

First, a short introduction:

What Is Creativity?

“Creativity is a mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts… An alternative conception of creativeness is that it is simply the act of making something new.”

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity

Where do designers get inspired?

How many of you have started a project by looking at a magazine or book, listened to some music, played a computer game, or viewed a website or Flickr group, such as Scrnshots or Patrick Haney’s Web Design Inspiration set? There’s nothing wrong in that – It is the kick start we all need when it comes to creativity.

Other Web Designers have talked on the subject of creativity before, and they seem to have quite similar stories. Paul Boag has said that he is his most creative whilst in the shower, and whilst you can’t take a notepad into the shower, quickly jotting down the main points straight after can help your mind de-clutter and move onto new things -http://boagworld.com/design/recording-creativity.

Here are a few thoughts by designs on how they get inspired:

• 30 Designers 1 Question – When are you most inspired?: http://www.gavinelliott.co.uk/2009/06/30-designers-1-question-where-are-you-most-inspired/
• Be a Creative Sponge – Jon Hicks: http://hicksdesign.co.uk/journal/be-a-creative-sponge
• Uninspired? Unplug yourself – Cameron Moll: http://www.cameronmoll.com/archives/001110.html
• Getting Unstuck – Dave Shea (Mezzoblue): http://www.mezzoblue.com/archives/2005/01/17/getting_unst/

The Science of Creativity

The brain is divided into two completely different sections, left and right.

The Left Brain

This portion of your brain is linked to speech, logic and analytical thinking. A very ‘linear’ part that likes sequential orders and lists. It is good in reading, writing and arithmetic and is very academic.

The Right Brain

This is the non-verbal side, more used to visual and spacial perception and intuition. As opposed to the left, the right side of the brain processes information much quicker. The right looks at the whole picture, as opposed to minute tasks, and it can deal with complexity a lot easier. Putting things into words is harder with the right brain, and it is this side that has been associated with the realm of creativity. – http://tolearn.net/hypertext/brain.htm

Research

The left and right brain concept initially came from studying brain injuries. The researchers noticed that people with left brain injuries could do things that people with right brain injuries could not and vice versa. – http://www.helium.com/items/816175-activities-that-stimulate-the-right-side-of-brain

Tests

There are several tests that give a percentage between our left brain and right brain. I took these two tests, and it concluded I was about 60% right brained.

Have a look at the animation. Which way do you see it rotate? You may think that it is clearly turning one way or the other. If you see it turn clockwise, you use more of the right side of your brain. – http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/how-your-brain-works

Improve your creative potential

To keep my mind active I had a stage of trying to come up with 3 things every night: inventions, blog posts or website ideas; the subject wasn’t as important as the concept. I was pushing myself to be creative, and think of ideas, even if I wasn’t particularly inspired. Sometimes it was hard to think of another 3 inventions, but the process allowed me to be more creative at the time. I still try to use the same concept if I find myself having a lack of inspiration.

Doing tasks like this allows you to get into a mindset of creativity, and the more you do it, the quicker and more often you can get yourself ‘into the zone’.

As well as just brute-forcing creative ideas, there are certain ways that have been found to stimulate the right side of your brain, associated with creativity:

The right side of the brain controls the left side of your body, so use your mouse or pen in the opposite hand next time your are struggling for inspiration. – http://www.dailyblogtips.com/exercise-your-brain-invert-the-side-of-your-mouse-pad/

You can also stimulate the creative part of your brain by remembering memorised lists, seeing different colours, unfamiliar faces, or meeting someone new. – http://ezinearticles.com/?Right-Brain,-Left-Brain&id=43531

You can include watching TV and playing games in exercising your right brain; with strategy-based games and multi-tasking activities, such as painting, drawing and tasks that will stimulate intuitive thinking and visual processing. – http://subliminalmentalperception.com/blog/right-brain-exercises-that-improve-the-health-of-your-brain/.  But a hugely important aspect of right brain stimulation is new experiences, such as sight seeing and being in new environments. – http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071104054032AAHzlU7

Seize the moment

As soon as I want to go to sleep, my mind seems to become wide awake with new ideas, designs and bits of code. Unless these are jotted down before going to sleep, I tend to completely forget about them by morning. Thanks to modern technology, we can catalogue our inspiration incredibly easily by taking a picture on a phone, adding to our To-Do/GTD list or bookmarking the latest killer website design. We can then access these whenever we need to in the future and the source of inspiration can be kept forever.

Conclusion

It seems that quite a few designers [http://www.gavinelliott.co.uk/2009/06/30-designers-1-question-where-are-you-most-inspired/] have similar ways to get inspired and be creative, finding quiet places, with minimal distractions (the bed, the shower, a walk, running). While for others, a drive in the car seems to be the key. This is usually the total opposite from our workspaces, with IM, Email, Twitter, mobiles and the Internet all so easily accessible and easy to get distracted by.

I originally came to this post with the notion that it was the time of day which had the greatest impact on our creativity. Some people seemed to work well in the morning, whilst others could work late at night, but it seems more about the stimulation of the brain than the hours we work, and while tiredness will always make finding inspiration and creativity harder, we can aid our mind and enhance it with simple tasks and experiences.

What have you found to be your creative muse, or what surroundings do you find help you the most? Please do comment on the post, as I would love to know peoples thoughts on the topic.

In terms of apps, I am using WordPress, Evernote and Tweetie mainly – but if you have any other great apps you couldn’t live without then please do leave a comment