When I begin the design process, I almost always have a very solid mental image of what I want the end result to look like. I used to think this was a plus, but I’ve recently come to realize that it’s one of my biggest hurdles. You see, I tend to lock into that original idea and resist the urge to play with other possibilities that arise as I work on the design. Lately, I’ve learned to look out for that resistance and allow myself to explore possibilities.

Often, when a stock photo is placed in a design, its colors can give a new direction to the piece. Likewise, an illustration that I may not have thought would be very prominent, may end up working as a repeated element that carries the design.

So, my big discovery is that allowing for spontaneity and creative inspiration as you work results in better design. I know; it’s obvious, but it took me a while to realize that. The learning process continues…

While web surfing last night, I found a fun site that’s a great resource for people who need to do quick photo editing or don’t have a photo-editing application at their disposal. The site is http://www.picnik.com. It’s a well-designed Flash based application that’s currently in beta and free! They plan to offer a premium version with enhanced features at some point, but the current version offers nice basic photo editing. The interface is simple. You can use your own photo and perform basic edits like crop, resize, red-eye removal, adjust colors, and more. There are also “Creative Tools” which allow you to apply filters like Sepia, Vignette, and Soften. This would also be a great tool in the workplace if your boss won’t spring for Photoshop. Check it out–it may be a sign of things to come…

Just when you’re nice and comfy and feeling rather proud of your accomplishments, everything changes! A big part of being a designer is keeping up with the ever-changing technology. For all of us who have been procrastinating about making the leap from HTML table-based design to XHTML and CSS, the time has come. Be brave, you can do it!

As always, I didn’t make this jump on a nice simple 4-page site. No, that’s not the way I do things; I jumped into a 40-page corporate site. Needless to say, I’ve spent the last two weeks working out all of the little nuances of CSS positioning (and pulling out some hair). It’s not so bad, once you realize that “static” positioning isn’t really static and “absolute” is really relative. Yikes! Not to worry, I’ve discovered some pretty good resources for becoming a CSS guru.

A good book for beginners is Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML by Elisabeth Freeman & Eric Freeman. This will give you a solid foundation. After that, move on to Eric Meyer on CSS: Mastering the Language of Web Design, by Eric Meyer. Also, be sure to check out the site Zen Garden – The Beauty of CSS Design to see wonderful examples of how dramatically a site design can be changed with CSS alone. You can even download the HTML and CSS files and try your hand at altering the design. Last but not least, let’s not forget the W3C. They’re always there for us when we need them. Now, go for it–dive in and let’s get rid of all those tables! Check back for more CSS tips each month.