All posts in Method & Craft

3 Posts
May 11, 2012 · Method & Craft

Learning Web Design, Web Development & iOS Development Online with Treehouse

Like many web designers and developers, I’m almost completely self taught. I started years ago with books, manuals and blog posts because that’s all that was really available. Now we’ve got an overwhelming number of choices when it comes to learning. Im a visual learner, so I find that video works best for me learning this stuff. Being able to watch someone show you how something complicated is done is so much faster, easier and enjoyable.

For the last few months I’ve worked my way through 38 badges on Treehouse, which has been great. At an average 6-7 minutes per video, and about 5 videos per badge, that’s around 20 hours of content. I’ve learned a lot, and the fact that the content is delivered in a thoughtful, structured way has really made the experience good.

May 2, 2012 · Design, Method & Craft

Creating Extensible Baseline Grids

In addition to the Y-axis grid, a baseline-style grid can be a really valuable X-axis alignment tool when you’re design compositing. Given that typography is so important, a good baseline grid is pretty essential for developing a nice rhythm in your designs. In this short 7 minute video, Mike Precious, a designer who contributes to Method & Craft shows how to quickly create an extensible baseline grid within a Photoshop-based web design workflow.

May 1, 2012 · Design, Method & Craft

Why Designers Should Be In Love With The Process

This 99% Conference talk by Yves Béhar on the design process has some great nuggets in it. I watched it on the way to the Harvard Entrepreneurship conference yesterday on the train and really enjoyed it. It’s 30 mins, the perfect length to get through on a short commute on your phone. Yves shares his seven principles for “holistic making.” There’s also a great quote at the end by Saul Bass on creativity and where ideas come from. Good stuff.