About the gig~

This is a full time position – The successful candidate (s) will assist in the creation of design solutions for assigned web projects including: product redesigns, new page layouts, visual interface design systems and functional | interactive elements, e-newsletters, promotions, and other graphical needs. Looking to the not so distant future, it will move beyond the desktop web and explore possibilities with emerging platforms such as mobile & tablets.

We are a tight knit design group that works closely with the Tech Production team to insure quick delivery of cutting edge design solutions to our audience. You are an avid user of web tools, applications and shared content online. You have understanding and interest in emerging web technologies, concepts, and designs. You pay attention to what others are doing with current design, and THRIVE on adding “best of” skills and techniques to your bag of tricks. The perfect candidate will have a solid understanding of user experience, be preoccupied with usability and have a great eye for the small details that make design stand out from the crowd. You will help define new site sections, concepts, and user flow.

The Requirements

• Portfolio of work that indicates an understanding of current web design trends
• Must be a self-starter who can produce top-quality work on tight deadlines for multiple internal customers and product teams
• Approach design with user-centered design methodologies and practices
• Understand the role of design in creating usable and effective web / digital interfaces
• Able to conceptualize and design innovative user interfaces for consumer- facing websites and web-based applications.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills. Ability to present and support creative concepts in a professional and engaging manner
• Strong desire to learn, grow and be a part of a passionate group – whose desire is to do the best work of their career.
• Advanced knowledge of the full Adobe web Creative Web Suite.
• Experience with valid HTML & CSS
• Current and review-ready portfolio

All seems reasonable right? Most important – you have to have an online portfolio. I’m not interested in a resume of what you’ve done, and where you have been. Let your work knock my socks off. If you have the chops… you are that person, or know of that person… I want to hear from you!

Second, because it takes advantage of the vast amounts of R&D that took place throughout 2008. Much of this effort made its way into the recent launch of MoneyWatch.com – still in it’s beta phase. However, it’s presentation has many new UI elements that I am very proud of. They feel intuitive and I hope that in the long run will serve to add value to our users and make our content easier to consume.

In some respects, many could say I am crazy to be excited about adding another brand to our portfolio of sites. ( My team already handles all creative for 4 major brands – this makes 5 ) However, I see it as an opportunity to fine tune a number of these new ideas that we are trying in the functionality of our products. Ideas that are easier to implement when building from scratch then when adding to far bigger sites with legacy functions on older platforms.

Thus far, our work has progressed quickly (Many trips to the no longer new coffee machines) – All of our previous efforts have made the creation and build out of SmartPlanet a smoother process that will be easier to deploy as a result. – I am eager to push this out and let folks take for a test drive!

When I asked him what he had in mind – He replied that he liked a blueprint sort of theme – He pointed to a recent Revision3 beta site, and suggested that he liked that it has a feeling of “being built”, but clearly is not complete. I liked this idea of generating a template that would house his content – but do so in a way that implies the notion of a constant work in progress.

This idea made me think of being back in art school – I used to use supermarket brown bags as drawing paper. Not only was it free and readily available – but is a great toned drawing surface with a lot of texture and paper tooth to build up layers of pencil lead. This really lent itself to being a quick and easy medium to develop ideas without being overly concerned by a feeling that I was creating a masterpiece. Thus, I stayed loose and really worked on trying new things without feeling locked into any one direction. This seemed like a place to start.

I pulled out all the color and depth to his logo to make it feel like a spot color print on an organic surface IE – brown bag. Splatters and stains are added to emphasize a “Re-used” surface. One intended specifically for the purpose of “quick studies” – taking your thinking through a process. The overall feel is intended on being a bit flat – and creating a monochromatic surface so that it is “his ideas and images” that standout rather then the shell itself. The edges of this design are kept at the top and bottom – thus any super wide images are not confined on the sides should it need to expand horizontally to 100%.

At any rate – this was a pretty simple design and I was able to build out pretty fast. I sent it to him this morning, and he had it up before 2pm. I am pleased with how it turned out, but more importantly am hopeful that it provides an easy base that allows his thoughts and ideas to grow through his constant motion.

I’m not exactly sure where the name MobKool comes from – other then the fact that John used to smoke KOOL cigarettes. A nasty habit he gave up years ago, but apparently still maintains a fondness for the name! At any rate, I did not have much to go on other then some ideas tossed around of a crumpled box of KOOL smokes. At first, it seemed like a good idea – but with logos, it is important to rely on minimalistic shapes to convey an idea. So to keep it simple – I played off the KOOL brand with the tight kerning of the double OO’s under a spotlight – highlighting a broken habit with a smashed butt. Also, since KOOL’s are menthol, I shot for a complimentary color scheme with a sort of minty backdrop but a warmer golden foreground.

As I said – MobKool is Johns blog – so the contextual elements rely on simplicity to allow his rants to display with large left aligned headlines as the most prominent part of the page below the brand and navigation. Since John is an engineer – SEO is important (Its actually important for everyone… but he always gives me a hard time about design not thinking about SEO – A designer stole his milk money when he was a kid) thus while the site is quite visual – all navigation and content is linkable text rather then to use images for anything other then background shell components and the logos found in the header and footer. Lastly – Mr Potter is pretty “web active” – so links to the various social places he can found online sits as a signature element in the footer.

This was a pretty quick design, and I am hoping to code it over the weekend by treating it as a sort of CSS Zen garden project by using the mark up of this site, skinned with with his presentation layer. Who knows… maybe he’ll even give me a link back to my site!

Alexis Gallisa, (part of my lunch crew and pixel pushing partner in CNB design) is a fantastically gifted designer, who continually amazes me. He has a rare balance of being equally skilled in both the visual as well as technical design and has taken an absurd amount of time in sharing his CSS knowledge.

Andrew Mager ( CNB Tech Producer, also part of the lunch crew, and probably the one of the most enthusiastic fanatics of all things web) helped me get set up on DreamHost as well as with getting word press set up so that I could both skin and blog to my hearts content.

Thus far, I have been able to get by on trade with Alexis – thanks to my wife’s AWESOME homemade empanada’s and HER tolerance for me disappearing downstairs to spend time working after work! (Make that 3 people – and not in the order listed above!) Though I have continued to promise Andrew a logo for his ongoing willingness to be helpful and somehow had not gotten to it.

However tonight, I had a some mojo going and put together a logo and site skin for him to play with on his blog. Andrew is sort of tireless when it comes to anything online, so I would not be surprised if he takes the PSD I sent him tonight and cuts its up to suit his needs before breakfast. Either way – many thanks to all – I am grateful for your help~

The design which included a new logo, is intended on creating a bridge between mediums. This is to reflect Scott’s combination of old and new within his own process. He hand draws all images, then paints using watercolor to provide a base. Then he finalizes these by pumping up the saturation as well as a continuation of brush work in photoshop

That said, I wanted to create a look that has an aged feel to reflect the roots of his process. As a base – his logo displays his drawing style – and the rest of the site uses warm but faded tones and backgrounds to continue this more traditional feel. The gallery uses Lightbox 2 by Lokesh Dhakar – However I tweaked the NEXT | PREV function a bit so that it is a consitent fixture rather then the result of a hover.

The site is still new and will no doubt continue to be tweaked, but I am quite pleased with this initial launch as it seems to have a very fitting feel to both Scott and his work. ( And ultimately, that is the goal of any project! )