Tomorrow Design || The Design Work of Steven Walker || A Chicago Web Design Firm || Design, Development, and Craft

Neck deep in development

For the past few months I’ve been lucky enough to have been doing front-end development for a web development and design company that I’ve been a huge fan of for a long time, Electric Pulp. It paid off following closely such a unique and innovative design firm, because when they were looking for some help with their front-end development I was there to offer my services. One simple, small project turned into many much more complex projects and over the span of a few months I was working for one of my favorite web firms.

It was an honor being a part of building out the beautiful designs of Stefan Hartwig and team. (Not to mention the whole Electric Pulp team was cool and awesome to deal with.)

It makes you realize how much better work is when you enjoy it. I believe good clients make for good work.

…until tomorrow.

Take a look around, but take a read around too while you’re at it

The idea is to actually have people read what I write, not just look at it briefly and move along. Speaking to that, I read a very interesting article on A List Apart that talked about the design your copy so it’s conducive to reading.  Not just assuming people will read what you’ve written because the content is something they are interested in. Many writers overlook the necessity to design copy and in turn create a convoluted atmosphere (surely inadvertently) that takes their users away from intended target, i.e. the article or story.

“We concern ourselves with their [the users] travel and participation—how they move from page to page, who they talk to when they get there—but forget the needs of those whose purpose is to be still. Readers flourish when they have space—some distance from the hubbub of the crowds—and as web designers, there is yet much we can do to help them carve out that space.” – Mandy Brown, A List Apart

Getting a user to engage and actually read what you’ve written can be a difficult task and assuming that they will read what you’ve written because you’ve “written something that is really interesting and worth reading” is a misnomer. Adding things like related content or comments can most definitely add value, but it’s things like this that are often placed where they battle with content you are trying to get the user to engage in. An unenjoyable reading experience will disengage many readers and maybe even make it so they don’t return. That’s no good.
I’ve heard many say (even a former co-worker that was in the web design field!) that people don’t read on the internet, and that people won’t read more than the first paragraph or two on your website. I guess that could be true if your content blows, but why even include content if it’s not going to be read? Some might say for SEO purposes but I think that is hogwash. SEO should be dictated by quality content and thus come naturally. By giving the user relevant material keywords will find their way in to your writings by virtue of subject accuracy, meaning if you are writing about design odds are you will have to use the keyword design.
In end, consider carefully your presentation and realize this is as important as the content you are providing. Your content is meaningless if no one reads it, and vise versa. I can’t quite say what I write is enthralling enough to read all the way through, I’ll let you be the judge of that. I’ll do my best to make the experience aesthetically relevant and pleasing and hopefully as time goes on my writing will continue to improve.  Of course if you’ve made it all the way down to this sentence, that would mean I was successful so far.

until tomorrow…

Tomorrow v 1.0 is live, and this is it. Take a click around, I hope you like.

After a long time of debating with myself over different designs, contemplating different approaches, deciding how I was to appear, which design is the most representative, etc. etc. etc. I changed my approach.  I said to myself, “It’s time to pull the trigger.” That is something I’ve said to other people and figured it was time I walked my talk.

This design comes from the necessity to give my user a simple path to the content they came to see joined with an aesthetically enjoyable experience that doesn’t get in the way.  I left out unnecessary frill that doesn’t serve a function. Though things like using new technologies can be cool, they’re often used improperly and actually makes for a less enjoyable experience. (When used correctly though, they can be incredible!)  Each user that visits this site will surely have a slightly varying reason, it’s on me to know that and create a path for them to follow that’s effortless and intuitive. You’ll notice the simplicity as there is no frivolous depth. Example: No contact page. Instead a contact form on every page. I foresee one is going to visit because they want to see my work, read something I wrote or contact me. I figured, “That’s pretty simple, the site should probably be too.”

So take a look around, I’ll be adding and changing things all the time as I see personal projects as never done.  I can assure you this site will always be in flux.

until tomorrow…