Tales of a Designer

The Chicago Spire

One of the many ways of finding inspiration is by looking at the architecture of different structures and buildings. I’ve recently read up on this soon-to-be apartment building that is being built in Chicago, called the Chicago Spire, that looks absolutely amazing. It has a very unique look that I’ve never seen in another design of a building.

The architect of the building is Santiago Calatrava, who seems to be inspired quite a bit by nature when designing structures. As shown in the Spire website, he has designed many other structures that are pretty unique as well. It’s interesting to see the work other types of designers (outside of the web), and even more interesting to see how/where they get their inspiration from.

The Spire website is very well done, and all of the images, video, and content go very well with what Santiago Calatrava’s goal was when designing the Spire. His inspiration from nature really comes out in his designs.

The principles I follow are based on repetition. This reminds you of nature because nature often works in patterns.

I very much look forward to seeing this structure when it’s completed in 2011. I’m sure we will be hearing quite a bit about this when the project nears completion.

What do you think about the Chicago Spire?

Working Within Budgets

One thing that I’ve found to be challenging when dealing with client projects, is working within the set budget with your specified hourly rate. Typically, the process starts off with finding out what type of budget the client has to work with, and then I would let them know what can be done within that budget. Sounds like an easy process until work starts getting done.

After projects finish, I normally try to assess the work that I’ve done and how much time was spent. One issue that I’ve found, even with small projects, is that the time I’ve spent on the project far exceeds the client budget and what is paid. The end result is exactly what I’ve promised, no more no less. Yet the time researching, designing, and trying to perfect code is way more than I thought it would be.

I often question myself on how to better estimate the amount of time I put into a project compared to the budget. Every time I estimate more for myself, I overshoot it, but again, delivering what I promised. I have yet to find a solution for this issue, but maybe it will come with more experience.

I believe in giving every project my full effort, so part of me has a problem with not putting in as much effort just to meet the time I estimated within a budget. Maybe I need to embrace constraints a little more and get into a different mind set when starting off. This can possibly be done by setting goals to a number of small goals, which in turn accomplishes the overall goal.

How do you go about working within set budgets?

My Favorite Blogs

Borrowing a page from Mapping the Web, I thought I’d list out a few of my favorite blogs. I spend almost too much time reading blogs, and trying to better my craft, and there have been many blogs that have helped me along the way. So I’d like to share those blogs:

Signal vs. Noise - This is the blog from the guys at 37signals. I really like the philosophy behind their thinking in how they approach design and programming. I’ve learned quite a bit from them on the basics of interface design on the web. I’d also highly recommend their book Getting Real, there is tons to learn in there.

Design View - Every industry has those people that stand out, and call things as they see them……the very outspoken type. Andy Rutledge is one them in the web design arena. In his blog he gives great info on topics ranging from basic design principles to the business side of design. He also provides great links to other relevant articles on the web.

Cameron Moll - This is almost self explanatory. If you don’t know who Cameron Moll is, I would suggest leaving my site right now and go get familiar with his work and blog. But, I do think he is a stunning designer and a great leader in our industry.

Freelance Switch - Everyone loves freelancing advice, especially those just starting off. Freelance Switch is probably the best freelancing resource on the web. I wrote about them before, and I still feel the exact same way. Their site is still growing, and they now have a job board, as well as a great podcast. This site is a must for any designers’ feed reader.

Jeff Croft - Jeff Croft is another designer that speaks his mind, and always has great insight to our industry. He’s a great designer/writer and there is lots to be learned from his blog as well.

Fadtastic - This is a cool site that talks about trends within the design world. It’s interesting to read the assessments in trends that we see in the current state of the web.

So that is my short list of blogs that I frequently visit. Of course there are tons of others that I visit regularly, but these have been the few where I’ve learned the most, and that provide consistently good content.

What are your favorite sites? I’m always looking to add to my list of feeds.