Post
Design Fatigue
Every once in a while, I come across a website that is absolutely beautiful in every way; a design and layout so complete that it makes me throw away what I was working on and start over.
The truth is that I’m getting aggravated at knowing what I want from my designs but not being able to create it. I feel like I’m trying to force design when there is nothing in me. So, here are some mediocre concepts that would have graced the site if it weren’t for real websites like Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters and artypapers.
(Click image for a larger version)
(Click image for a larger version)
Update: Another one down the drain.
Archive
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260.
The Ethics of Practicing Procedures on the Nearly Dead
The report from the field was not promising by any stretch, extensive trauma, and perhaps most importantly unknown “downtime” (referencing the period where the patient received no basic care like...
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260.
The Ethics of Teaching Hospitals
I can’t imagine what the patient was thinking. Seeing my trembling hands approaching the lacerations on his face with a sharp needle. I tried to reassure him that I knew what I was doing, but the...
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260.
Conscious Conversation: Behavioral Science
Dr. Eran Zaidel is a professor of Behavioral Neuroscience and faculty member at the Brain Research Institute at UCLA. His work focuses on hemispheric specialization and interhemispheric interaction...
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260.
Progress Report
Two years down, I’m still going. The next two years are my clinical rotations, the actual hands-on training. It’s a scary prospect, responsibilities and such; but it’s equally exciting, after...
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260.
Why Medical School Should Be Free
There’s a lot of really great doctors out there, but unfortunately, there’s also some bad ones. That’s a problem we don’t need to have, and I think it’s caused by some problems with the...
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260.
The Cerebellum: a model for learning in the brain
I know, it’s been a while. Busy is no excuse though, as it is becoming clear that writing for erraticwisdom was an important part of exercising certain parts of my brain that I have neglected...
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260.
Conscious Conversation: Philosophy
Daniel Black, author of Erectlocution, was kind enough to chat with me one day and we had a great discussion – have a listen.
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260.
The Stuff in Between
I’m actually almost normal when not agonizing over robot production details, and quite a bit has happened since I last wrote an update. First, I’ve finally graduated. I had a bit of a...
Comments
Andrew Hamann
Feb 13, 03:34 PM #
Mohodin Rageh
Feb 13, 03:52 PM #
The only real advice I can give you on those designs are to try and reduce clutter. In other words, I would do whatever you can to reduce distractions from your content (ie the sidebar), and definitely wouldn’t create a second one.
Your current site is fantastic, but it rides the fine line between minimal and stark. Unless you’re dead set on throwing it out, I’d really consider just polishing it.
Jonathan Barket
Feb 14, 12:49 AM #
“It is pretty hard to come up with earth-shattering designs all the time. Not even half of the time. One needs to break out of his mould. Get something that inpires you.”
The problem is that I really want something earth-shattering and I’ll probably continue scrapping concepts until I find it. What do you use for inspiration?
Jonathan:
“I’m going through the exact same thing right now. I’m a web application developer by trade, so putting together a promising design has always been my weak spot. I finally thought I had something worth using, and less than a day after I saw binarybonsai.com for the first time and had to throw it all away.”
I hear you, man.
“Unless you’re dead set on throwing it out, I’d really consider just polishing it.”
This site is a design tester of sorts so it’s not that I want to throw it out, it’s just going to happen soon.
Thame
Feb 14, 05:41 AM #
There’s an article called “Current style in web design” (http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/current-style.cfm) that does a good job of explaining the details and elements that go into some really wonderful designs. After you read that, chuck out your conventions and start from scratch.
In the same way that you have to work against your intuition to solve a brain-teaser, work against your design intuition—be like George Costanza for a day and do the opposite. You may not wind up with a complete design, but if you get a couple good elements that you’re happy with, save those for later use. Rinse and repeat.
R. Marie Cox
Feb 14, 06:38 AM #
I think that’s a fantastic approach. I’m definitely going to have to start doing that. I’ll have to be careful to make sure that I combine the elements into a whole website, but it’s a much better method than what I’m doing now.
Thanks.
Thame
Feb 14, 05:03 PM #
Keep up the redesigns! As I said before, I like the diversity of frequent redesigns.
Dylan
Feb 20, 08:45 AM #
The site is always a work in progress so another redesign is probably not too far away :D
Thame
Feb 20, 10:20 AM #
David
Feb 22, 02:47 PM #
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