November 09, 2008
It’s been a good while since I announced we’re working on the redesign of Drupal.org. Two months, a couple of presentations, and seven iterations of the prototype later, a glimmer is at the end of the tunnel.
On thing is for sure, in this instance, Design by Community works.
September 26, 2008
Like Jeremy, I’m such a blogwhore.
September 16, 2008
One of the interesting challenges of the redesign process for Drupal.org is managing the expectations of a community of over 200,000 registered users. Not only that, but a community of largely open source developers. I mention that specifically because of the culture that surrounds open source development. Leisa and I have been trying something that is, frankly, terrifying. We’re designing in the open.
August 15, 2008
A day or so ago, the small design studio I run, Mark Boulton Design, was announced as the redesign partner for the redesign of drupal.org. Together with the outstandingly talented Leisa Reichelt and Carolyn Wood, the team at Mark Boulton Design are thrilled to part of this project. More details on the studio site.
Leisa and I will be out in Szeged, Hungary, for the biannual Drupalcon during the week of the 25th August, where we will be giving a keynote presentation on Thursday 28th. If you’re there, tap me on the shoulder and say hi.
August 01, 2008
I’ve got a confession to make: i’ve got a thing about signage design. On any given day trip, excursion, or holiday, and I can be seen ignoring the attraction and taking photographs, or even drawing little sketches, of the signage. I’m particularly interested in airport signage.
A few days ago, I took a business trip to Brussels, via Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. I’ve wanted to visit Schiphol ever since I attended a lecture in 2005 by the designer of the signage system, Paul Mijksenaar. As a designer, you know when you get those moments where something somebody says turns you’re entire understanding on its head? Seeing Paul talk, I probably had one of those moments every minute.
June 05, 2008
The other day, 37Signals wrote about Why they skip Photoshop. Fine. I think that suits them and their workflow, considering they don’t do client work and have an established UI style on which to draw. Jeff does a much better job of summarising my thoughts on the subject that I could. As does Jon
So, yesterday, we see this post on SVN, presumably as a follow up. Is it an inflammatory post? Or, do they have a point?
May 20, 2008
On the 15th May, the winners of this year’s D&AD awards were announced. This year, there were only two nominations for graphic design, neither of which won an award. There were many more website nominations, and one was even awarded a yellow pencil. Although, typically, it’s a flash-based, motion-based ‘microsite’ masquerading as a website. Now, that aside, why did the graphic design category not produce any winners this year?
That very question has got me thinking about industry awards in general and why graphic design, and its application to websites, no longer has a place in the D&AD.
May 07, 2008
Last year, Mike D introduced me to a friend of his who had just started work on an exciting new project. Coolspotters, the first major project from Fanzter was built on the back of a simple concept: combine products and people and let the users create the connections.
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I'm a graphic designer from near Cardiff in the UK. I've been a designer for over ten years now and primarily work on the web. I'm still partial to a bit of print every now and then though. I used to work for Agency.com in London as an Art Director before working as a Senior Designer for the BBC in sunny Cardiff. This was all before I took leave of my senses and formed my own design consultancy, Mark Boulton Design Ltd.
I've got a thing about grids and typography and occasionally ramble on about them to anyone who will listen.
If you're after simple, clean and effective web design; let me know.