The Local Wisdom Blog

Google Docs, I believe will take over the Microsoft Office software suite. Maybe not today, not tomorrow, but it will. Do to it’s simplicity, mobility, and collaborative ways it’s one of the best options. Only corporate accounts, privacy, and comfortability stand in it’s way.

Another step in the right direction is the inclusion of templates. Check out SpeckyBoy.com and the article on Google Doc templates for website developers and designers.

I for one, will run a test drive in our next design project.

Last week I mentioned that we were gearing up to launch a new version of our portfolio. I’m delighted to announce that it’s live.

We strive for unique yet usable designs, and our portfolio is no exception.

I’m going to discuss intentions, and one of the unique features of the portfolio, but nothing can replace browsing it for yourself.

Now serving skimmers and readers

A lot goes into a web project. So naturally we have a lot to say about each project that we highlight in our portfolio.

The design needed to give a quick overview for skimmers, while allowing more curious readers the opportunity to learn the details of each project.

A new take on the Modal Box

Each portfolio item has clear thumbnails of the website that can expand in our take on a modal box.

Modal boxes typically lock-down the whole website. Why should you lose your navigation because you are looking at an image?

We also aren’t big fans of having to close a modal box just to reopen a new one.

We solved these problems by lighting up the navigation, keeping the navigation active, and adding image changing functionality.

The result is a better, more usable modal window.

Feedback

Let us know what you think. Feedback is very important to us, and we gladly accept it in any flavor (good, not-so-good, or ugly).

info@localwisdom.com

Wrap-up

A lot of LWers put a ton of effort into improving this portfolio, and localwisdom.com in general. In particular, RJay and Melissa poured themselves into this project. I speak for everyone in the Local Wisdom family when I say, job well-done.

Now it’s time to start thinking about more improvements.

The Dutch interaction designers over at Unitd have recently made a new post about a major pet peeve many of us have: creating a Table of Contents for Omnigraffle wireframes.

A simple ApplesScript allows you to create an on-the-fly Table of Contents in your document.

Download the script here!

Omnigraffle Table of Contents AppleScript

There is a great guide on the same site on how to install it. I’ve started using it and have customized it to match the Local Wisdom templates we use – it’s great, and shaves time off of this routine task.

Ran into this today when I logged into my google docs to update a spreadsheet.  Not bad for V1 I have to admit and Pinaki will have to see if it can replace Omnigraffle, but I doubt it   I logged in and made a quick workflow diagram to test it out, tell me what you think:

“About Google drawings

There is a thin line we must walk between form and function. We’ll always have a bit of both.

If we had a scale from bare-bones utility versus over-the-top flashterbation, we’d be somewhere in the middle everytime. Sometimes we’ll lean towards the utility side and other times we’ll lean towards the experiential side. Usually this is a page-level decision depending on the page’s purpose.

Some examples of when we lean to the experiential side include: when we need to evoke emotion, display complex information, facilitate decisions, or guide through a flow.

We’ll lean to the utility side when we need to people to do something repeatedly, when delivering serious or sensitive information, or when we want to focus attention.

UX Magazine wrote a great article on comparing Eye Candy vs. Bare-Bones in UI Design.

Sometimes you just need to start from scratch.

You probably didn’t notice that we have evolved the Expertise section of our website.

The redesign to the section is a total. We changed the visuals, the technology, and even the way that we approach our work throughout a project.

Instead of redesigning based on the content and process that we had in place, we looked at the way we actually did work, and changed the stated process to better reflect reality.

The visuals were all carefully crafted by RJay in 3D. His attention to detail is always astounding. He managed to make a incredibly detailed design that doesn’t feel cluttered.

RJay’s design were technically demanding. Melissa rose to the occasion and pushed herself to make all of the jQuery animations work as RJay envisioned them (there is no Flash on this site). It was a painstaking process, but as always, she triumphed.

Finally, the copy is written to convey hours and hours of work in as few words as possible. It was a challenge to take our in-depth stages of production, and detail them in lighthearted, meaningful, and brief passages. Writing for brevity and clarity is always tough.

Go have a look at the new Expertise section of LocalWisdom.com.

We usually have to rapidly prototype website UI all the time. We’re asked all the time, what’s the best program to wireframe within. Yes, we use OmniGraffle, Adobe InDesign, as well as Microsoft Visio to properly document UI screens and flows, but that’s usually not where we start.

Working with programs are usually slow and cumbersome; not only that, but they force us to think within their own limited set of constructs.

We start with a pencil, eraser, and paper. It not only helps us to produce screens quickly, it helps us to push ourselves to create multiple variations of screens to fully explore different interaction models.

“But Pinaki, I can’t draw?!?!”, you say. After I give you a mocking laugh, I’ll tell you that anyone can draw. Go ahead, pick up a pencil and paper. Draw a line. Now, draw a rectangle. Next, draw a circle. How about a star? If the objects on your paper can be identified by someone else, then you can sketch UI and wireframes.

Geekchix.org‘s Ivana Jurcic posted a lovely collection of printable paper-based wireframe templates and sketch books. Perfect for printing and prototyping.

Thank you Ivana, for the great post and photo for our homepage.

Breaking news…. but not broken by me

Ran into this over at Mashable. Have to admit, competition is awesome for the public in general.  If it wasn’t for Apple kicking azz and taking names in the last decade with the Ipod and Iphone, we’d all still have “Smart” phones like the blackberry… man I can’t stand that device…  (10, 9, 8, calm down now)….

Now it seems like any product coming out has to have an amazing look and touch functionality to even compete.  Now it seems Microsoft is throwing their hat in the mix with the Courier Tablet.  It looks amazing, and it’s even been rumored that an LW employee who is a hardcore Mac user (who will not be named) is looking forward to the device.  Hopefully RJay will let me play with it once he gets his hands on one… ooooops

Here’s some of the post:

“As we were clued into by earlier leaks, the Infinite Journal is the key metaphor for Courier. It’s like an enormous notebook for collecting pretty much any kind of content: clippings from the web, your own notes, diagrams and drawings, photos from the on-board camera, etc. Each item gets a timestamp and geotag, and you can add more tags for better searchability as well.

Several key “views” into your Journal are detailed in the leaked document, including a Smart Agenda that acts as a sort of a Cliff Notes representation of your entire journal, making important items visible at a glance. The Journal Overview is another style of at-a-glance window into the journal contents, with an integrated search interface. The Library is the main file browser metaphor that organizes everything by type. The left screen acts as a “favorites” tray where you can sticky your most important apps and projects in one place.

Also detailed is the Browser (pictured below), allowing you to easily clip content from the web into your journal. You can also flip through your history with a vertical Cover Flow-like index card system. Another handy organization metaphor is the ability to “tuck” items into the device’s spine to temporarily store something and move it from one section of your journal to another.”

Read the whole post here

Week 44

This past week’s themes included all hands on deck, the art of proposal writing, and a Local Wisdom Halloween.

First, I wanted to start by congratulating members of the LW team, David Spira (Information Architect), Christine Robinson (Project Management), Pinaki Kathiari (Director of User Experience), and RJay Haluko (Sr. Web Designer), for the execution of a very large proposal. It was certainly a team effort and we got it done. Speaking of getting proposals done, there is definitely an art to writing proposals. No two proposals are the same. Our proposal process is as follows:

• Gaining an understanding of a customer’s business needs
• Aligning customer business needs with Local Wisdom expertise
• Defining project scope, timeline, and cost

The finesse is always in the documentation. The final proposal should always speak to a customer’s unique business needs, the overall execution strategy, as well as the personality of the project.

Last week rounded off with one of our intranet Design Discovery meetings run by RJay. We believe having e v e r y o n e on a project team to discuss creative, helps drive our work as well as achieve consensus on the overall design direction. Engaging workshops with interactive creative Q&A makes for truly productive sessions.

Halloween was celebrated on Friday at our office, with some interesting, fun, and original costumes. Look out for pictures very soon!!!

Week 45 looks to be busy one. So expect some good commentary.

With that said, so long and till next week.

This weekly review has been brought to you by Derrick Larane, Director of Sales here at Local Wisdom.

You ever wonder how a website gets developed? Take a look at how we come up with the blueprints for your site as Pinaki discusses LW’s Information Architecture process. Send requests for screencasts to share@localwisdom.com and follow us at twitter.com/localwisdom and visit us at http://blog.localwisdom.com

Show Notes: Original Keynote slides saved as PDF

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