http://www.cedarseed.com/

She uses mixed media in the majority of her work…

I hope you enjoy

I just found your site a few days ago and I’m catching up on the archives. Great stuff man.

FREEKING AMEN!

I do think its important to be a bit of a chameleon as well. That allows you to make a design that fits the clients needs irregardless of your personal style. And lets not forget about fitting their budget. I’d rather get a quick professional website completed than spend hours in Photoshop as well.

You might like Fireworks. I mention Fireworks because it allows you to prototype quickly. I’m comfortable working in any of the Adobe products, but Fireworks is just really fast.

Thx.

You comment: “I love the results that come out of just using code with minimal graphical flair” really hit home. Seeing a design with the absolute minimum in graphics is rare, but when its done right it can be great.

I tried a small experiment a while back to see if I could make a 1 page layout with no images at all. This was before I knew about benefits of the grid and looking back there is a lot I’d change about it now - overall I suppose it was a good learning experience and taught me not to rely im images so much.

Here it is:
 http://www.azeemalim.co.uk/imageless02/

I read your article and I have to say that the most important thing is educating the client (which you mentioned). But it’s subject to debate how to educate them. Many clients do want something that looks like x even though it is not fitting for their market. As designers we have to stress the importance not of good design (though indirectly), but what succumbing to trend based design will do to their business. We need to explain not only why the glossy, reflected, gradient logo is not representative of their company, but why it does not communicate what is important to their clientele. Why it will not make them as much money as something else. Because in the end clients do not care about our process or why this is a trend or why we don’t do things that way. They care about the results our designs deliver, and that is what we need to stress.

Cheers.

Unfortunately the “web2.0 style” (and I use that term very sarcasticly) of design has reached our clients. They now think that good design is glossy and reflected. Reverse programming of this idea has proven very difficult for me lately. While finding more trusting clients is high on my priority of things to do, it is not any easy task to accomplish when everything out there looks the same. Getting someone to go against the grain is not an easy task, however it is one that I am attempting every day.

Great post, and keep up the great work. If anyone is interested, I also wrote an article that quotes elliot and is very similar.

Elliot: I’m hoping to explain more about the process of writing code rather than Photoshopping things when a certain project is released that I can use as a case study.

I’m also doing a workshop about creative processes in Photoshop, so I wouldn’t mind getting your thoughts later today about how you “tend to actually write CSS and photoshop images or slight conceptual variations by screenshotting what [you] have working in the browser.” It’s an interesting way of working and something I’m even starting to do from time to time; or spending less time in Photoshp, anyway.