Jekyll2019-03-22T17:58:04+00:00http://briandigital.com/Clarity & HypertextThe Weblog and Portfolio of Brian ChristiansenBrian ChristiansenReturning to Now2018-08-02T00:00:00+00:002018-08-02T00:00:00+00:00http://briandigital.com/2018/08/02/return-to-now<p>After a pair of potential projects fell through at the very last moment this week—some paper work was already signed! I found myself unexpectedly and <strong>immediately available</strong> for contract and consulting work. I realized much of my network may not have known I’d even gone out on my own. Mark that down under <em>strategic blunders</em>. I took to <a href="https://twitter.com/briandigital">Twitter</a> today, with a few tweets to chart a new course. That looked like this…</p>
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<p>I realize many of you started following me because I worked with Jared Spool and the other fine folks at UIE. Lately I haven’t been using Twitter professionally, yet a great deal of my contacts come from here! Starting with this thread, I’d like to get back to some UX design. 1/5</p>
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<p>Did you know I left UIE at the end of 2017 to become an independent UX design consultant and contractor? I’ve been loving helping Boston-area and remote teams tackle their challenges. 2/5</p>
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<p>As a UX generalist I help define problems, craft personas and scenarios, develop IA, create sketches and wireframes. I handcode HTML/CSS, and am comfortable with digital prototyping. I really enjoy the center of the double diamond 3/5</p>
<p><img src="/assets/img/double-diamond-design-process-favorites.png" alt="Annotated Double Diamond diagram" title="Annotated Double Diamond describing a UX process." /></p>
<figcaption><small>Annotated Double Diamond describing <a href="https://medium.com/digital-experience-design/how-to-apply-a-design-thinking-hcd-ux-or-any-creative-process-from-scratch-b8786efbf812">a UX process by Dan Nessler</a>. Except for the red bits which are entirely my fault.</small></figcaption>
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<p>You may not know also I have a Master’s in Instructional Design, whose methods overlap UX a great deal. 1 recent project crossed the two, designing learning materials for software and their digital delivery. (I’m not seeking x-over projects exclusively, though.) 4/5</p>
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<p>Now comes “the ask”—you knew there’d be one, right? <br />
(FWIW, I don’t really like “ask” as a noun, yet here we are.) <br />
Some unexpected, immediate availability opened up for me. Would you mind retweeting the next tweet, to help me spread the word? 🙏🏻 <br />
5/5+…</p>
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<p>Could you or anyone you know use some #UX design or #instructionaldesign contract or consulting help, remote or near Boston? I’d love to know learn about their challenges. You can see what I’ve been up to at <a href="http://briandigital.com/portfolio">briandigital.com/portfolio</a></p>
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<p><em>(end thread)</em></p>
<p>When I built this site, I had the idea to implement a <strong>Now</strong> page <a href="https://sivers.org/nowff">in the style of Derek Sivers</a>. But I pulled back, because well, this whole site is about what I’m doing now, right? I’m here to hang my shingle out, so people know I’m here to help them with their design challenges?</p>
<p>When turned to <a href="https://twitter.com/briandigital">my Twitter network</a>, where I built many of my connections I maintain today, I realized I hadn’t been talking about what I’ve been up to recently, and I needed to get the word out… now. So this is my “Now” blog post.</p>Brian ChristiansenAfter a pair of potential projects fell through at the very last moment this week—some paper work was already signed! I found myself unexpectedly and immediately available for contract and consulting work. I realized much of my network may not have known I’d even gone out on my own. Mark that down under strategic blunders. I took to Twitter today, with a few tweets to chart a new course. That looked like this…On Writing Again2018-06-20T00:00:00+00:002018-06-20T00:00:00+00:00http://briandigital.com/2018/06/20/writing-is-thinking<p>I was seeking the source of the phrase “Writing is thinking”. A great many people have said “Writing is thinking.” Steven Sinofsky recently produced a notable Twitter thread, later <a href="https://medium.learningbyshipping.com/writing-is-thinking-an-annotated-twitter-thread-2a75fe07fade">collected and annotated on his blog</a>, with this as his title. However, <a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Zinsser#On_Writing_Well_(Fifth_Edition,_orig._pub._1976)">William Zinsser said it</a> back in 1976. He’s someone who’s a noted writer on, among other things, <em>writing</em>…</p>
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<p>Writing is thinking on paper[…] <br />
<cite>—William Zinsser, <em>On Writing Well</em>, 1976</cite></p>
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<p>Writing is something I want to do more of. My most recent project was to build a detailed, illustrated software manual, and tutorials, including all the writing, and designing the web-based system it lives in. Perhaps many would consider that a boring assignment (<em>a user manual!?</em>).</p>
<p>Writing that manual reminded me that I really enjoy the craft. How can you make that kind of reading engaging? You have to be brief and somewhat entertaining to retain the audience’s attention, long enough to explain things, and precise enough to avoid misunderstanding. If you succeed, you’ve given the reader a new superpower, the ability to use software to accomplish their tasks, and achieve their goals.</p>
<h2 id="if-writing-is-thinking-its-also-designing">If writing is thinking, it’s also designing.</h2>
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<p>Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. <br />
<cite>—Zinsser</cite></p>
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<p>From the designer and developer’s stand point, if you cannot explain how to accomplish a task using the tool you’ve built, have you succeed in your goals? Why isn’t instructional writing starting in, or just after, the ideation phase of design? This is an idea I’m looking forward to exploring more in upcoming projects.</p>
<p>While writing how to use a tool, if you have trouble explaining it, then you may not have designed a good tool. As I wrote the learning materials, I found myself with multiple pages of feedback and suggestions for the developers—and it was a good tool, popular with its users, to begin with. I also stumbled upon bugs and inconsistencies. It’s like a second level of <abbr title="Quality Assurance">QA</abbr>.</p>
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<p>Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn’t be there. <br />
<cite>—Zinsser</cite></p>
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<p>I’ve been trying to draw parallels between design and writing. My conundrum seems to be that <em>I cannot separate the two.</em> What is writing (in the systematic, intentional sense) but designing a message with words? I would argue that’s design with limited tool availability.</p>
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<p>All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem. <br />
<cite>—Zinsser</cite></p>
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<p>If you had only a plain text editor, you could still design and build a web site—from writing through development. Without any media to lean upon, any successful design would have to be a stellar reading experience. I would argue perhaps <em>every</em> design should start out this way. I’m not the first to that thought. From many vantage points it’s the best start.</p>
<p>How can you craft a vessel for a message without knowing the content first? Once you have the message, and the voice and tone, then you can design a complimentary vessel. The tenants of <a href="https://resilientwebdesign.com/chapter5/#progressiveenhancement">Progressive Enhancement</a> start here. Put the message into the lowest, most dependable layer of technology that can hold it (in this case, the HTML, but also… consider the URL!). Decide what media needs to be a part of the package, and deliver what you can via HTML. Then enhance its presentation with thoughtful, appropriate typography and layout via CSS. Then add behavioral enhancements with JavaScript. How many projects today start with that stack in reverse?</p>
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<p>Good writing is lean and confident. <br />
<cite>—Zinsser</cite></p>
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<p>The current obsession with JavaScript-first development toolchains is distracting from what we’re here for. Many offer development ease at the cost of precision, and craft. As a result, page payloads are bloating to several—sometimes <em>double-digits</em> of—megabytes per page load, while many of our users are on spotty or saturated 3G networks. The focus needs to be on <em>the users’ problems</em> first, not the developers’ problems. Start with the user’s problem, with the message, then find the most appropriate medium with which to deliver it. As technologists and problem solvers, we need to get back to that mindset.</p>
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<p>The writers’ job is like solving a puzzle, and finally arriving at a solution is a tremendous satisfaction. <br />
<cite>—Zinsser</cite></p>
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<p>This year, I’m starting to write for writing’s sakes again, and hopefully that means I’ll be thinking more, too.</p>Brian ChristiansenI was seeking the source of the phrase “Writing is thinking”. A great many people have said “Writing is thinking.” Steven Sinofsky recently produced a notable Twitter thread, later collected and annotated on his blog, with this as his title. However, William Zinsser said it back in 1976. He’s someone who’s a noted writer on, among other things, writing…