Web Directions North | February 6 - 10, 2007 �

Finding Creativity in the Design Process

• MP3 of presentation — Coming Soon
• Session description
• LiveBlog post
• Session Slides: Finding Creativity in the Design Process — Veerle Pieters & Dave Shea, 22.5MB PDF
• About Veerle Pieters
• About Dave Shea

Session description

Independent designers don’t have the luxury of specialized roles — they wear multiple hats. Those working on the web today are expected to speak the language of programmers and other technical types, on top of building valid and well-coded web sites that are easy to use. All this amongst writing proposals, maintaining client relations, and keeping the financial picture in focus.

When design becomes a process and deadlines loom, it can be difficult to keep the ideas fresh. Communicating with clients is an art on its own; dealing with cringe-inducing change requests and keeping your cool during difficult client relations takes an ability to see things from someone else’s perspective.

Veerle Pieters and Dave Shea are here to share some of their past experiences working with varied clients, juggling multiple projects concurrently, and keeping the creativity flowing when crunch time hits. As well, they’ll be looking at working environments, various organization and workflow methods, and dissecting the idea-generation process by way of example with a special project they’ve put together for this presentation.

tags: design, workflow

Veerle Pieters

Veerle Pieters is a graphic/web designer based in Deinze, Belgium. Her journal is a popular online source for topics ranging from XHTML/CSS and Expression Engine tutorials to graphic design tips & tricks and personal impressions.

Starting in 1992 as a freelance graphic designer under the name of Duoh! Veerle worked on print orientated projects before moving into designing websites and user interfaces (since 1996). In 2000 Veerle founded Duoh! n.v. together with Geert Leyseele. Drawing has always been her passion, together with listening to soulful funky jazzy chillhouse tunes and an inexplicable fascination for the Balearic isle Ibiza.

Dave Shea

Dave Shea is the creator and cultivator of the highly influential web site csszengarden.com, and co-author of the recently-published Zen of CSS Design (New Riders, 2005).

The founder and design lead of Bright Creative in Vancouver, BC, Dave also writes for a large global audience of web designers and developers on his popular weblog, mezzoblue.com. His sites have won multiple awards, including “Best of Show 2004″ at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, TX.

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