Whether freelancers, small agency founders or website owners, too many of us work alone. The downside of the digital revolution is isolation. The Web allows us to do alone what previously would have required a team of people. It also frees us from the constraints of geography, allowing us to work from home. But while these are benefits, they also leave us isolated.

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The Dangers Of Isolation

Over time, working in isolation (even if you function as part of a team) can prove harmful to your mental health, business and website. In fact, even if other people are working on a project of yours, if they are junior to you, you can still feel isolated.

lifeandlove, Shutterstock

If you don’t find a peer with whom you can share ideas and discuss your business or project, you face a number of dangers:

• Dry up creatively
  Creativity is born of interaction. Being consistently creative on your own is hard. The best ideas come from people brainstorming together and from one great idea leading to another. Without someone to bounce ideas around with, your business or project will lack a creative spark.
• Lose confidence
  Over time we can lose confidence in our abilities or our business. This is especially true when we make mistakes and things go wrong. Without someone to encourage and reassure us, we can begin to second-guess our decisions.
• Become over-confident
  While some suffer from a lack of confidence, others are over-confident and need to be challenged and questioned. This is a trait I suffer from; I would happily dive headlong into disaster if my fellow directors did not constantly question my ideas. Without people like this, moving your business in entirely the wrong direction would be too easy.
• Reach the limit of your knowledge
  We can’t all be experts at everything, and yet running a website and a business requires a broad range of skills. When working in isolation and tackling problems beyond your comfort zone, you can easily reach the limit of your expertise and flounder.
• Have a blinkered perspective
  Another problem with working alone is that you have only a single perspective on your work. By adding another set of eyes to your problems, you gain a broader vision and can approach your challenges from a different angle.
• Feel overwhelmed
  Running a business or a business-critical website can feel like a burden. You are often required to make big decisions, particularly with hiring and expenditures. Making these decisions alone is a big responsibility and can be really scary. Having someone to share that with would make a big difference.

So, can you identify with any of these traps? If not, then I suggest you read the one about over-confidence again! I don’t believe a single website owner or entrepreneur couldn’t benefit from an outside perspective.

The question, then, is how do you find someone?

Getting An Outside Perspective

The most obvious solution is to partner with somebody at the outset. Whether you work with someone on a website or form a business with an associate, partnerships can be very beneficial. This is what I did with our company, and I haven’t regretted it for a minute. I would be lost without my two co-founders, Chris and Marcus.

That said, I know that not everyone’s experiences with partners have been rosy. Also, by the time you read this, the opportunity for this kind of partnership may have already passed.

What can you do then? What other options are available to those seeking an outside perspective and someone to bounce ideas around with?

Here are some options:

• Sleeping partner
  This is the approach we took. We have a non-executive director named Brian who works with a number of companies and keeps us on our toes. He has a radically different view of business and constantly challenges us. In return, he has a small stake in the business. He is worth every penny.
• Paid consultant
  If you don’t fancy having someone so entrenched in your business, why not consider an external consultant with whom you could speak on an ongoing basis? Admittedly, this kind of consultant can be pricey, but they do bring an outside perspective to the table.
• Mentor
  Another option is to approach a Web designer or website owner you admire and ask them to mentor you. Obviously, these people are probably busy with their own work, but if you are willing to pay for their time, you might get some valuable advice. You’ll usually need only an hour per month to stay on the right track.
• Buddy
  A buddy would be a cheaper option, someone in a situation similar to yours. The two of you could agree to chat regularly and share the challenges you face as business or website owners, discussing different approaches and ideas.
• Community
  Yet another option would be to look not for a consultant, mentor or buddy, but for a supportive online community. Loads are around, but make sure the one you join is not too big. You want people to remember you and your circumstances.

Whatever you decide is entirely up to you. The point is, if you want to realize the potential of your website or business, you need the help and encouragement of others. Humans by nature work best in groups, and you are no exception. We are not meant to do it alone!

(al)

© Paul Boag for Smashing Magazine, 2010. | Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: isolation, Workflow

Web Designers, Don’t Do It Alone is a post from: Your complete Guide to digital cameras, reviews and news

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Psdtuts+ – Photoshop Tutorials

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  Create an Angelic Sculpture Made of Ice in Photoshop

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  Turn a Flawless Blonde Beauty Into a Sword-Wielding Fantasy Action Hero

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  Quick Tip: Create a Realistic Paper Texture in 5 Minutes

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Activetuts+ – Flash, Flex and ActionScript Tutorials

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  Exclusive Freebie: The Piecemaker XML Gallery

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  A Better Way to Build Flash Banners

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  How to Create a Flash Menu in 20 Minutes

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  Quick Tip: How to Automatically Resize an Image to Fit the Screen

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  Throw Objects by Creating a PanAndThrow Class

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Aetuts+ – Adobe After Effects Tutorials

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  Discover How To Recreate the Sherlock Holmes End Credits Effect

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  Welcome CS5! An Intro To The New “Roto Brush”

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Audiotuts+ – Audio and Production Tutorials

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  8 Free, Cross-Platform Apps for Musicians

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  Basix: How to Record the Acoustic Guitar

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Cgtuts+ – CG and 3D Tutorials

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  An Archiviz Workflow Overview in 3ds Max, Sketchup, and Digital Fusion

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  Model, Texture, and Render the Legendary Katana in Maya

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  Create Convincing Looking Clouds using Pyrocluster in Cinema 4D

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  Create a Logo Dispersion Effect using Particle Flow and After Effects

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  Quick Tip: Simulating Chains using Reactor in 3ds Max

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Nettuts+ – Web Development Tutorials

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  Quick Tip: HTML5 Features you Should be Using Right Now

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  Combining Modern CSS3 and HTML5 Techniques

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  Quick Tip: An Introduction to jQuery Templating

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  10 Kick-Ass Magento Templates

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  Quick Tip: Notable New Features in Dreamweaver CS5

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Phototuts+ – Photography and Post-processing tutorials

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  Advanced Macro and Still Life Photography

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  Quick Tip: 5 Useful New Features in Adobe CS5

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  Simple Steps for Shooting Amazing Silhouettes

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  The Almighty Histogram – Your Guide to Better Exposure

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  The Ultimate Guide for Buying Your First Digital SLR

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Vectortuts+ – Adobe Illustrator and Vector Tutorials

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  Time-Savers: 400+ Stock Images, Retro Vectors

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  How To Create Outstanding Modern Infographics

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  Inspiration: Amazing 3D Typography

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  Quick Tip: The Tilde Key Trick

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  Create a Realistic, Vector Building Illustration

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Creative Sessions

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  The Elements of Cute Character Design

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  Roughly Speaking: Character Design Sketching Approaches

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  Character Design – Nailing the Basics

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  How to Make an Animated Paper Robot

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FreelanceSwitch

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  Keeping In Touch with Prospective Clients

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  Turning Your Knowledge into Products

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  Why I Believe in Pricing Work Based on Value

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  Setting Your Standards as a Freelancer: A Few Suggestions

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  Get Business Buzzing with a Buzz Piece

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We’ll be publishing the best of Tuts+ each month, so you get to see the best of everything.

Best of Tuts+ – April is a post from: Your complete Guide to digital cameras, reviews and news

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Psdtuts+ – Photoshop Tutorials

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  How to Create an Incredible Typographic Illustration – Part 1

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  Continue Reading

Activetuts+ – Flash, Flex and ActionScript Tutorials

• 

  Exclusive Freebie: The Piecemaker XML Gallery

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  Continue Reading

• 

  A Better Way to Build Flash Banners

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• 

  How to Create a Flash Menu in 20 Minutes

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  Read More

• 

  Quick Tip: How to Automatically Resize an Image to Fit the Screen

  This Quick Tip explains how to use an image as a website background and scale it proportionally to the stage size. It’s great for when you’re using a SWF that’s full-height and full-width inside a webpage.

  Read More

• 

  Throw Objects by Creating a PanAndThrow Class

  In this tutorial we will be mocking up and finishing a pan and throw class that will allow us to add this effect to any element we want. To accomplish this, we will create a image viewer – but not your average viewer. Here we’ll have zooming, throwing, panning.. Almost sounds like a ninja app, huh?

  Visit Article

Aetuts+ – Adobe After Effects Tutorials

• 

  Discover How To Recreate the Sherlock Holmes End Credits Effect

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  Visit Article

• 

  Create A Realistic Glass Reflection

  Transparency is an important element to reflect in one’s relationships and if we can help you in that area it’d be our pleasure! In this tutorial you’ll find out how to create a realistic glass reflection on a 3D object, created within After Effects. We’ll then simulate a normal pass and have it reflect the environment with the “normality” free plug-in.

  Visit Article

• 

  Get Caught Up In A Spider Web Tutorial – AE Premium

  Learn how to use Trapcode Form to create a stylistic and dynamic Spider Web. This tutorial will show you how to “think outside the box” when it comes to using plug-ins to get away from that “preset” look.

  Visit Article

• 

  Welcome CS5! An Intro To The New “Roto Brush”

  A HUGE welcome to After Effects CS5! In this tutorial, I’ll be going through and explaining the new “Roto Brush” tool included within CS5. It isn’t a “keyer”, it’s not quite a “magic wand”, I wouldn’t even call it a “pen”. You’re just gonna have to watch the tutorial to find out what this amazing new feature is made of!

  Visit Article

• 

  61 Mesmerizing VFX Breakdowns

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  Visit Article

Audiotuts+ – Audio and Production Tutorials

• 

  Quick Tip: How to Create Interesting Drum Patterns Quickly
  

  Here is a quick and effective way of creating original and complex drum patterns spontaneously. I am using Logic, but the concept is not DAW specific.

  Visit Article

• 

  How To Recognize Frequencies

  In the last installment we studied the first four octaves of the frequency spectrum with pink noise. Now we’ll continue with the rest of the octaves and revisit the others using music samples.

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  6 Apps & Websites to Get Your Ear in Shape

  If you followed along with us a few weeks ago, you know how much interval ear training can help you as a musician and how to get started with training itself. If you haven’t read it, head on over to Boot Camp for Your Ear.
  This time, we’re going to look at a bunch of applications and websites that will help you with regular ear training sessions. Most of these go beyond intervals, of course.

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  8 Free, Cross-Platform Apps for Musicians

  Like most of us when we’re in the studio, it’s hard to get me to work with anything other than the industry standards; Pro Tools, Reason, Logic (which sort of falls into that category), and so on. But given the rising prices of just about everything under the sun, not to mention the chronic emptiness of the musician’s wallet, it’s worth taking a look at the alternatives out there that can be had for free.

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  Basix: How to Record the Acoustic Guitar

  Recording acoustic instruments can be scary for beginners. In this day and age many people just plug in and play their instruments, electric guitars, basses and synths, never needing to record an instrument except the odd vocal track. True as it may be that we get better sounds out our guitar plug-ins and software synths with every update, we must not forget how to record a “proper” instrument, in the real world.

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Cgtuts+ – CG and 3D Tutorials

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  An Archiviz Workflow Overview in 3ds Max, Sketchup, and Digital Fusion

  In this Architectural Visualization workflow overview you will learn how to use Google Sketchup for photo matching, create a Vray-proxy in 3ds Max, use Max script to speed up your workflow, reduce render times when creating a large scene, set render layers in 3ds Max, and do some post production in Digital Fusion.

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  Model, Texture, and Render the Legendary Katana in Maya

  In this 3 part Maya workflow tutorial you will learn how to model, texture, and render a Katana, the legendary Samurai sword. For the modeling portion, we will use Maya’s basic polygon editing tools, while UVlayout will be used to create the UVs, and of course Photoshop to create the textures. We will also briefly cover Mental Ray for rendering the final image.

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  Create Convincing Looking Clouds using Pyrocluster in Cinema 4D

  This tutorial will demonstrate the ease and versatility with which you can create convincing looking gas effects using Cinema 4D’s Pyrocluster. You will learn how to optimize your scene and tune it to your own visual tastes, while focusing on creating realistic clouds as the subject matter. The basic techniques, however, can be applied to a variety of different scenarios and effects.

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  Create a Logo Dispersion Effect using Particle Flow and After Effects

  As you may know, when you get a grasp on particles in CG, the possibilities of what you can accomplish are nearly limitless. In this 3ds Max based Particle Flow tutorial, you will learn an easy method of dispersing a logo into particles using materials.

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  Quick Tip: Simulating Chains using Reactor in 3ds Max

  In this short tutorial, you will learn how to simulate chains, necklaces, or pearls using an easy and very efficient method with reactor in 3ds Max. After watching this, you will be able to simulate chains in just a few short seconds, a skill which can prove to be very useful in countless different situations.

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Nettuts+ – Web Development Tutorials

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  Quick Tip: HTML5 Features you Should be Using Right Now

  With all this talk about HTML5 not being complete until 2022, many people disregard it entirely – which is a big mistake. In fact, there are a handful of HTML5 features that we can use in all our projects right now! Simpler, cleaner code is always a good thing. In today’s video quick tip, I’ll show you a handful of options.

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  Combining Modern CSS3 and HTML5 Techniques

  Just because some techniques don’t work in decade old browsers doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be learning everything you can! Stay on the cutting edge, as we use everything from CSS shadows and animations, to HTML 5 mark-up and local storage, to utilizing jQuery to work with the Picasa API. We’ll also take advantage of the excellent jQuery library, and review some best practices when coding.

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  Quick Tip: An Introduction to jQuery Templating

  JavaScript Templating is a neat idea: it allows you to easily convert JSON to HTML without having to parse it. At Microsoft’s MIX10 conference, they announced that they are starting to contribute to the jQuery team. One of their efforts is to provide a templating plugin. In this quick tip, I’ll show you how to use it!

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  10 Kick-Ass Magento Templates

  I’m proud to announce that ThemeForest is now selling Magento eCommerce templates at cheap prices that any business or individual can afford. We’ve launched with thirty-five awesome Magento templates, but we’re just scratching the surface. By the end of the year, ThemeForest will be the premier location for buying and selling Magento templates! Here are some of the best that we’ve launched with.

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  Quick Tip: Notable New Features in Dreamweaver CS5

  If you’re a Twitter user, it was difficult not to be aware of Adobe’s CS5 global launch presentation. While they did an excellent job of promoting Photoshop and Flash, other applications, such as Dreamweaver, only received limited coverage. Nonetheless, take a look at some of the awesome new features in Dreamweaver CS5, slated to be released in mid-May.

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Phototuts+ – Photography and Post-processing tutorials

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  Advanced Macro and Still Life Photography

  You face special challenges when shooting objects that are close-up, or capturing still life. As with most subjects, many of these challenges have to do with light quality and quantity. With macro photographs, the challenge grows as the subjects get smaller. This article delves into designing for still-life and macro photography, outlines high and low-key techniques, and discusses the importance of depth of field.

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  Quick Tip: 5 Useful New Features in Adobe CS5

  Today marks the launch of the latest edition of Adobe’s Creative Suite – CS5. In today’s Quick Tip, we’ll be taking a look at a few of the new features in Photoshop CS5 that are particularly useful for photographers. We’d also love to hear what you’re looking forward to, and whether you’ll be upgrading!

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  Simple Steps for Shooting Amazing Silhouettes

  Silhouettes can be an excellent way to add drama to a scene. The stark contrast and lack of detail in the subject infuse a psychological effect into the image that can be beautiful, mysterious, or even frightening.
  Today we’ll look at a few suggestions to keep in mind the next time you set out to shoot some silhouettes. We’ll also examine the settings used in some real-life amazing silhouette shots to see what we can learn from them.

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  The Almighty Histogram – Your Guide to Better Exposure

  In this tutorial you’ll learn about the histogram, and what it’s able to tell you about your photography. If you’re going to use the back of your camera as guide to judging exposure, then you need the histogram. Understanding it fully will help you capture better, more flexible images!

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  The Ultimate Guide for Buying Your First Digital SLR

  Let’s assume that you’ve been shooting with your “point and shoot” for a while now, and you’ve taken some pretty nice snapshots. But maybe you are starting to feel a little limited by what the camera is capable of doing. You’ve read up on photography, and there are things you want to work on. You feel it is time to step up!
  This guide will help you to understand some of the basic features of Digital SLR cameras (DSLRs), and hopefully help you find one that fits both your needs and budget.

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Vectortuts+ – Adobe Illustrator and Vector Tutorials

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  Time-Savers: 400+ Stock Images, Retro Vectors

  Stock images can save you many hours of work on illustration and allow you to focus your attention on the important task of designing. Finding the right vector for you, however, is a completely different matter, and can sometimes take just as long as creating a vector image yourself! That’s why in this post we have rounded up a total of over 400 retro-themed vector images which you can use in your own projects.

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  How To Create Outstanding Modern Infographics

  Merge form and function to create outstanding modern infographics. In this tutorial you will learn that data doesn’t have to be boring, it can be beautiful! Learn how to use various graph tools, illustration techniques and typography to make an accurate and inspiring infographic

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  Inspiration: Amazing 3D Typography

  Three-dimensional typography is something we’ve seen a lot of recently, and it doesn’t seem to be dying down, either. This post showcases a huge collection of 3D typography, and we have no doubt whatsoever that it is going inspire!

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  Quick Tip: The Tilde Key Trick

  This screencast covers fun with the Tilde key and Adobe Illustrator. Works with any Shape Tool, the Line Segment Tool, the Arc Tool, the Spiral Tool, and more. Use this technique to quickly make complex shape patterns.

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  Create a Realistic, Vector Building Illustration

  We have another great Vector Premium tutorial available exclusively for Premium members today. If you want to learn how to create realistic vector buildings, then we have a massive and extremely detailed tutorial for you.

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Creative Sessions

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  The Elements of Cute Character Design

  You’ve always wanted to develop a character which has the potential to enchant the world and to compete with Hello Kitty? In this article I’d like to present some elements making a character cute and lovable and to support you in achieving your goals. First, I talk about why something is regarded as cute. Afterwards I’d like to offer an overall view on cute proportions and as a conclusion consider general rules and tips. The goal is to create a manual of cute character design which can be universally used in the process of design.

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  Roughly Speaking: Character Design Sketching Approaches

  Character design comes in many styles, but they all start with the rough sketch. Often overlooked in online tutorials, technique and process videos, they are the foundation to creating quality characters. The following is an overview of rough sketches from some fantastic character design artists, with many different styles and approaches.

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  Character Design – Nailing the Basics

  If you’re thinking of becoming a professional illustrator, character design will come up as a client request again and again, so keeping up on current trends is a must. To get started creating your own characters, you’ll need to nail the basics, which includes: getting comfortable sketching, refining your process, and streamlining your overall approach.

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  Creating Personal Character Designs with Precision

  Designing a character can apply to both personal and professional projects. The character can be a mascot that works in the context of a multi-national brand, or it can simply be inspired by a well-known character within pop culture. The later is usually referred to as “Fan Art.” The character “Mickey Rat” first appeared in the early 1970’s as a subversive underground comic that I enjoyed as a kid. Many artists over the years have taken their own approach with the character, and this article goes over my creation of this vectorized vermin.

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  How to Make an Animated Paper Robot

  In this tutorial we’ll go through the steps of designing and making an animated paper robot character. Not just a picture, this is a moving character that will sit nicely on top of your computer monitor. Push the robot body up and down and he stretches out his robot claws! We’ll start with the lines ready and learn the craft of coloring and then physically putting this paper character together..

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FreelanceSwitch

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  Keeping In Touch with Prospective Clients

  A lot of your success as a freelancer will depend on your persistence.
  It takes many forms – your persistence in learning and improving your skills, the persistence that’s involved in bringing a long, difficult project to completion, and the topic of this article, persistence in keeping in touch with the people who may do business with you.

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  Turning Your Knowledge into Products

  One of the big downsides of the freelance world is that when you’re not doing billable work, your income goes to zero. So, there’s a lot of talk about creating income streams that aren’t dependent on your selling your time.

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  Why I Believe in Pricing Work Based on Value

  For freelancers, the question of how to price your services is always up for debate. Should you charge by the hour or per project? What should your hourly rate be? What type of payment terms should you require? The answers to these questions will vary based on your industry, your reputation, and your personal preferences for your business. But there is one thing that I believe should factor into every pricing decision you make:
  Price your services based on value.

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  Setting Your Standards as a Freelancer: A Few Suggestions

  Having standards is important when you’re trying to find and work with clients on your own. It’s surprisingly tempting not to stick to your standards: a quick project that you wouldn’t normally take can look pretty appealing if you’re having a slow month. But sticking to your guns can be important in more ways than one. If you take that problematic job, not only are you doing something that you don’t want to do, but you’re also likely to hand in work that you know isn’t as good as you could do. Even worse, that sub-standard job can take up the time you need to find higher paying clients, sticking you in a position where you can’t afford to move forward.

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  Get Business Buzzing with a Buzz Piece

  Most business models can attest to the power of a buzz piece. This marketing tool provides valuable information for prospective clients, the ability to transform readers into customers and a ton of exposure. So if you don’t have one, you should absolutely consider it.
  Here’s what you need to know about buzz pieces.

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We’ll be publishing the best of Tuts+ each month, so you get to see the best of everything.

Best of Tuts+ – April is a post from: Your complete Guide to digital cameras, reviews and news

Related posts

• Best of Tuts+ – April
• How to Create an Incredible Typographic Illustration – Part 1
• Give a Photo a Complete Glamour Makeover With Stunning Light and 3D Effects
• Create an Angelic Sculpture Made of Ice in Photoshop
• The Making of Lost – Part 2

Introduction

A random sighting of the famous proverb "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is what sparked off this idea. Rather than seeing work and play as two separate activities, I sought to reconcile the idea in a single typographic treatment, while still exposing their peculiarities. Eventually, I settled on creating a work environment in a very playful way. To do this, I used a variety of contrasts. For instance, the rather plain perspective and frontal camera position makes this a very plain, static environment. This however is broken by the two words that float around the scene and add a sense of motion. There is also a contrast of light. The work side is somewhat dark, while the play side is well lighted. All in all, this is typically organized working environment that has somehow lost control of itself, in a good, entertaining way.

Step 1

The program we’re going to start in is Cinema 4D. The first thing we’re going to tackle is the word ‘play’. If you feel you need a reference for the letters, it’s a good idea to open Illustrator and trace the basic paths over an existing script font. In this case, I made a few basic lines that will become the base of the word. To create your own, enter the front view in C4D and trace the letters with the Bezier Tool.

Step 2

In order to turn this into a paint-like material, we’re going to use Metaballs. You can find it under Objects > Modeling > Metaball. To activate it, just drag all the paths you make on top of it in your objects menu. At first it will look rather odd, because we haven’t edited the paths with a Metaballs tag. You can use this tag to fine tune your results. Firstly though, click on the Metaballs object in the Object menu. Now click on the Object tab and change the Editor Subdivision to 3m and Render Subdivision to 0.2. The lower the number, the more precise result, and the longer it will take your computer to process the information. Also, as we add more paths and spheres to the metaballs object it will get harder and harder to update. Make sure you turn it off when creating new paths for it by clicking the tick mark in the Objects menu.

Step 3

Now we’ll add a Metaballs tag to the paths. For any paths you create, drag one of these over it.

Step 4

For each path, specify a strength of somewhere in between 1 and 4. You’ll have to be very specific though, as sometimes you may need a 1.1 or 1.2 value.

Step 5

Start adding extra paths to the letter P.

Step 6

A few extra ones should mimic a splash. Remember to edit the points of each of these paths so that it doesn’t end up looking flat. You can drag this in three-dimensional space to achieve that look.

Step 7

Move on to the letter ‘y’ and repeat the process.

Step 8

Now we’re going to switch over to spheres. Create a few spheres that intersect the paths. There’s no need to create tags for these. Just make them smaller or larger, as needed.

Step 9

Repeat this process and add some more across the word.

Step 10

These next few spheres shouldn’t be within the Metaball object. These are spheres that appear to have detached from the main word. Place these near the ends.

Step 11

It’s time to add a material to the word. You’ll need to download this free material. Open the C4D file you’ve got and make the following changes. First of all, change the Diffuse Color to a bright red: R:244 G:13 B:13.

NOTE: You can find the final material in the download folder.

Step 12

Now change the Specular to a simple white.

Step 13

Specular 2 should be yellow: R:255 G:255 B:98.

Step 14

Specular 3 should be a slightly darker yellow: R:247 G:206 B:43.

Step 15

Change the Reflection color to white and the Reflection Edge color to pink: R:250, G:209, B:209.

Step 16

All you need to do now is copy the material and paste it into the scene. Note that your cursor needs to be over the material in the Material Menu for this to work. Then just drag it over the Metaball Object and over the other spheres.

Step 17

Now add a Sky Object. There’s no need to give it a material. It’s normal white will do just fine, as we don’t want it to be too bright.

Step 18

Our paint material has a double coat. The inner coat is not visible, because we need to activate it with proximity lighting. Add a first light to the scene, and use the second screenshot to edit it. Don’t forget to enable Falloff – this limits the range of the light to a specified amount.

Step 19

Add a second light in the same technique. I’ve numbered it here, as it gets a bit confusing.

Step 20

Add a third light near the last two letters.

Step 21

Add a smaller one to the same side now.

Step 22

And one last light should do it.

Step 23

We now need a background. In the side view, create a rounded L shape spline.

Step 24

Go back to the Perspective view and Extrude it with the Extrude NURBS object. Once you created one, just drag the spline on top of it inside the Object Menu. Use the settings shown below.

Step 25

Find an angle you like, and create a camera. Don’t forget to edit its settings as shown in the second screenshot.

Step 26

That’s it for this word. It’s time to edit the render settings (Render > Render Settings) and render this thing! Use the following settings.

Step 27

The Output is where you decide the size of the final image. This one should be 1688 x 1050 px.

Step 28

Next, choose the format you want. I always save the in psd format, and tick Alpha Channel so I don’t forget it when I actually need it. But since we have a backdrop that’s also an object, the Alpha Channel is redundant here. You’ll need it later though!

Step 29

I’m always obsessed about anti-aliasing, and so I use 2×2 over 4×4, though 1×1 over 4×4 will do fine as well.

Step 30

Enable Global Illumination and change to these settings. This part will affect your render time the most. If you want a quick render, changing the diffuse depth to 2, minimum Resolution to 5 and Maximum to… say 45 should cut back quite a bit.

Step 31

And finally, uncheck Auto Light from the Options menu. Don’t render just yet, as we need to create one more element.

Step 32

I usually create the more complex paths in Illustrator just because I’m more familiar with it. You can create this in C4D or Photoshop as well. What matters most is that you have a vector path file that you can merge in C4D.

Here, we’re going to create a paint can. Create this shape that we’ll revolve in C4D.

Here’s a close up on the top.

Step 33

When you’re done, save it as an Illustrator 3 file somewhere. Go back to an empty new scene in C4D and go to File > Merge. Place the path into your scene.

Step 34

Add a Lathe NURBS object and drag the path in the Object Menu over it.

Step 35

Add a Circle Spline and position it as seen below.

Step 36

Add an Extrude NURBS and drag the circle path over it. Add a large Fillet Cap as seen in the second screenshot.

Step 37

Copy the first knob and make it larger. Push it into the bucket, and change the Cap to a very small one.

Step 38

Copy these two, rotate them by 180 degrees and place them on the other side as well.

Step 39

To create the handle, draw a Bezier Spline in the top view.

Step 40

Use a Sweep NURBS and a small circle spline to give it thickness.

Step 41

This is what your Object Menu should look like. Select them all and Group them.

Step 42

We’ll now create a simple material for the bucket. Use the following options. In Color, select Noise by clicking on the Small arrow button in the Texture field.

Click on the Noise Tab to bring up these settings.

Step 43

Splendid. Now just copy the bucket into the first scene and scale / rotate it in place.

Step 44

In order to render the scene, we need to transform the Metaballs object into a Polygon Object. This is basically like when you rasterize a vector shape in Photoshop. By doing this, C4D no longer needs to calculate the Metaballs process during rendering. First of all, copy the Metaball into a separate blank scene and delete everything except the letter P. In the Object Menu, Shift + Select all the layers and Right-click > Current state to object. This will take a while, so hang on while C4D kills all your RAM for a few minutes.

Step 45

Once you’ve done that with the rest of the word, paste it back into the scene and render it. Your results will vary but my configuration took about 11 hours to render. That material is an absolute pain.

Step 46

Let’s move on to the second word now. As a guide for the screws, I created a mold, if you will. You can create one yourself by creating a Text Spline, applying an Extrude NURBS, and knocking off the Caps in the Caps tab. Create all this in a new blank scene.

Step 47

Download these free nuts and bolts. This whole part is simple in concept, but very laborious. Resize and rotate several bolts into the first letter.

Step 48

Add more into the mold, but try not to make them touch or intersect.

Step 49

Here is the first letter, all done. Add smaller bits and pieces to fill in the blanks.

Step 50

Repeat the process for the rest of the word.

Step 51

We’ll now move on to creating the ventilation shafts. Nothing fancy, just a couple of multiplied objects. The first one is a Tube Object.

Step 52

Apply the following settings to the ventilation shafts.

Step 53

Now go to MoGraph and add a Cloner Object. Drag the two objects on top.

Step 54

Let’s create a frame now. Create a very long Cylinder.

Step 55

Let’s create a second frame now. Create a very long Cylinder and Multiply it in the same way.

Step 56

Copy the frame Cloner Object, resize the tube and place it as seen below.

Step 57

For this part, I used a few objects from Greyscalegorilla’s Light Kit Pro. You can model all these things yourself, but this one’s a real time saver. If you have it, drag a StudioL object into the shaft scene.

Step 58

Make it large. Very, very large

Step 59

Also from the Light Kit, open WindowLightStudio and copy the white backdrop.

Step 60

Paste it in our scene, and delete a few endpoints to turn it into a straight, white plane, rather than an L shape.

Step 61

Make it smaller and place it in the scene.

Step 62

Make a second copy and position it as seen below.

Step 63

One final thing we’ll use from the Light Kit is the blue softbox. Copy it into our scene.

Step 64

Turn it into the mother of all softboxes!

Step 65

In order to darken the left side, I created a black ceiling and wall. Create two similar planes and apply a new material that only has 0% Luminance.

Step 66

Time to add a Sky Object. Add a light Gray material to it, as seen in the second screenshot.

Step 67

All done! Here’s a final render of the scene. Still, we’re going to have to make changes to these objects in Photoshop. To do that, hide everything, except the backdrops, uncheck Global Illumination to get a much faster render, and save the render as a psd file with Alpha Channel included.

When you’re done with that, repeat the process to isolate just the shafts and make an Alpha Channel file.

Step 68

Still, you’re probably wondering what happened to the first word (work+). We’re going to use this exact scene, but alter it slightly. First of all, paste the word into the scene and find a proper place for it. Copy some of the bolts and paste them around the scene. Hide the backdrops, ventilation shafts and giant L shape backdrop. Leave the black walls, sky object, and softbox in place. Below you also have two images that show the final render and its alpha channel render.

Final Image Preview

With a bit of stitching together, here’s what you’ll get.

Part 2 Coming Soon!

Stick around for Part 2, where we take these bits and pieces and make some magic in Photoshop!

How to Create an Incredible Typographic Illustration – Part 1 is a post from: Your complete Guide to digital cameras, reviews and news

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• Best of Tuts+ – April
• Best of Tuts+ – April
• Quick Tip: Create a Complex Pattern by Nudging Smart Objects
• Establishing Perspective in Your Drawings – Basix
• Design a Macbook Pro Illustration in Photoshop

  

The iPhone will always be part of a much bigger picture. How well you address human and environmental factors will greatly determine the success of your product. All too often, iPhone developers create products in isolation from their customers. In order to create really appealing applications, developers must stop focusing only on the mechanisms of the apps. Zoom out: understand the person using the application, as well as the complex environmental factors surrounding that person.

To better understand the context of these design challenges, we’ll highlight several levels of human and environmental factors.

Also consider our related articles:

• iPhone design mistakes: Over-Design
• iPhone App Design Trends
• How to Create Your First iPhone Application

Level 1: You Are Here. To Create An App That Customers Love, Zoom Out

Level 1: The app itself.
This is how many developers view their apps. As a developer, you have a vision of what your product should look like and why customers will turn their attention to it. However, if you observe your product so closely, you may put it in the wrong context and design it for the wrong purposes and for the wrong users. This is why you need to zoom out.

Level 2: A person is using this app.
That person has specific goals and challenges. In the section below we’ll start by exploring some of the most prominent — and most ignored — human factors pertaining to the iPhone. We’ll discuss basic physical ergonomics, visual limitations and common design mistakes.

Level 3: That person is using this app in a specific environment.
Step back and you’ll see that the app is a part of a complex social environment. It plays but a relatively small role in communication between people and helping people accomplish bigger goals. This is where the social components comes into play: networking, community, social-driven websites and applications and many other things create the environment — or the context — in which the application will be used.

Level 4: The environment is part of a greater culture.
Your ability to address the unique needs of different cultures will affect the success of your product. Ignoring them is too expensive, especially if your app sells worldwide. Here it is important to understand that the environment is a part of global networking. You need to be aware of cultural differences, traditions and metaphors in order to create an application that will not only gain popularity in certain local circles, but will also have a global success.

Level 2: Understand The Person’s Needs And Limitations

“Measure twice and cut once”: an effective strategy indeed. For you, the iPhone app developer, this means that you have to step back and answer these questions before you start coding:

• Who will be using your application?
• What are the capabilities of that person?
• What are the limitations of that person?

Answering these questions will broaden your perspective and prepare you to address your customer’s needs. A whole Human Factors profession is dedicated to just that.

Basic Physical Ergonomics

Here are a couple of the most important physical-, cognitive- and ergonomic-related truths about the iPhone.

1. Our fingers are not mouse pointers.
Remember this property of our fingertips: their surface area is not equal to one pixel. In many applications, tappable objects are way too small, making the interface frustrating to use. Here’s one example: in iFitness, different muscle groups are indicated with red pins. Tapping a pin brings up the name of that muscle. And if you tap the name, you get a list of exercises that develop that muscle.

The pins are twice as small as those used in the Google Maps app. Tapping the pin you want is very hard, because the surface of your fingertip covers an area of three or more pins. You end up tapping repeatedly on the area, enabling random pins, wishing you could sharpen your finger. After more than a few tries, you get lucky and hit the right one.

Which of these pins will be activated when you tap on it?

Here are some ways to solve these ergonomic challenges:

1. Make buttons and other tappable objects bigger.
2. If making a button bigger is impossible, then enlarge the clickable area to be bigger then the button itself.
3. Reduce the number of options on each screen, and make the selection process sequential (e.g. Arm Muscles → Biceps).
4. Implement multi-touch gestures within the interface. For example, selecting a muscle group in iFitness would be made easier by introducing a two-finger zoom feature.

2. We’re not superheroes, unfortunately.
App designers need to take vision limitations into account. Mobile phones tend to be used in places with worse lighting conditions than computers. Think about those people who will be using your app on a bumpy bus or train or walking down a sunny street. Even if the technology is useful and perfectly executed, people will be reluctant to use the app if they find it hard to see what’s going on. Here are a few examples of potentially useful apps that do not account for vision limitations.

TweetDeck

Fish-tycoon

Here are some ways to avoid these mistakes:

1. Choose only the elements that are absolutely necessary. Make them bigger, and get rid of everything else. If needed, create additional screens with fewer options.
2. Remember that pixel dimensions on the iPhone are smaller than those on your computer screen. So, screenshots viewed on your computer’s iPhone emulator look larger than they would on the iPhone itself, even though the resolution is the same.

The author holds an iPhone (163 ppi) in front of Apple Cinema’s 30-inch display (~100 ppi). Your iPhone screen layout may look fine on a computer emulator, but don’t be fooled: it will appear much smaller on the iPhone because of its smaller pixel dimensions.

Level 3: Understand The Challenges Specific To The User’s Environment

Goals and Environment

Your app will usually play a relatively small role in helping the user achieve a bigger goal. The better you understand what goals people have and what they need to achieve them, the better you can design your app to satisfy those needs. Mobile phones are often used in loud, distracting environments. A simple stroll through town brings plenty of noisy distractions (cars, dogs, mail carriers, etc.). Consider the following examples. Which voice memo app would do a better job?

Apple Voice Memos	vs.	iTalk

Although Apple Voice Memos looks nice, iTalk addresses the average user’s goals and environment much better. Think about it: why would someone prefer to record a voice memo over writing a note? The audio format has fewer advantages than simple text. You can’t scan, edit or enhance audio files as easily as you can text. In most scenarios, text is a much more convenient format in which to exchange information.

So, why and, more importantly, when would people use voice memos? When they are not able to type. The most common time is probably while driving.

According to the New York Times‘ summary of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s findings, drivers who text have a 23-times greater risk of a collision than drivers who don’t text. Which application would be easier to use in this case? The one with the big shiny mic and the record button that is small and hard to reach (especially for right-handed people)? Or the one with the red record button half the size of the screen? Certainly the latter.

Confirming for the user that the recorder is activated is important, too. Which interface communicates the device’s status more clearly? Where do you tap when you’re done?

Apple Voice Memos	vs.	iTalk

Based on which design works better overall, iTalk wins. Apple Voice Memo looks great when you’re checking it out on a friend’s phone but performs poorly in a real-world context.

Mobile Phones, Networking and Community

The mobile phone is, without a doubt, a social tool. The greater the number of people involved, the more engaging the experience is. Think about it: if you were the only one with a phone, it wouldn’t be very useful. YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are driven by the understanding that we are social beings — we want to share! Imagine how dramatically designs that foster greater social interaction could change the mobile world.

With the seemingly endless ways to capture and share information, many people feel overwhelmed with information. To help them cope, designers must exploit the iPhone’s platform to make their applications as efficient as possible. Here are some inspiring examples:

Bump

“Bump makes swapping contact information and photos as simple as bumping two phones together. No typing, no searching a list for the right person, no mistakes.” (iTunes Store description)

Mover

“Ever wished you could send something to the iPhone right next to you? Do it with style with Mover.”

Loopt

“Loopt transforms your mobile phone into a social compass to discover and navigate the world around you. Use Loopt to see who’s around, what to do, and where to go.”

How Loopt works (video):

Level 4: The Environment Is Part Of A Greater Culture.

Your ability to address the unique needs of different cultures will affect the success of your product. Ignoring them is too expensive, especially if your app sells worldwide. Design should adapt to regional challenges. Jacob Nielsen, a leading usability expert, gives us an illustration of this:

“In Sweden, the Automatic Teller Machines have very large buttons. I hadn’t noticed this particular design element on previous visits, which have usually been in warmer months. In 1996 I was in Stockholm in February and immediately realized why the ATM buttons are so big: you can press them wearing thick gloves.”

Such insights are gained only by understanding the product in its real-world context. Here is the graphic designer’s point of view:

“… Understanding the object in context moves graphic design from a purely formal arena to a social and political one.”
—Steven Heller and Karen Pomeroy in “Design Literacy,” Allworth Press, New York, 1997.

More wisdom from Nielsen:

“A system must match the user’s cultural characteristics. This goes beyond simply avoiding offensive icons; it must accommodate the way business is conducted and the way people communicate in various countries.”

Apple studied American users and addressed their goals. That’s why the iPhone is so popular in US. But it hasn’t succeeded in Japan. The handset is selling so poorly there that they are giving them away for free.

Conclusion: Excellence Comes From Hard Work

Designing a great app isn’t a simple task. Jacob Nielsen recently asserted that “the mobile user experience is still miserable.” Extracting user insights from testing is a challenge. People have difficulty telling you what they want; they usually only know it when they see it. But developers don’t have to tackle user research alone. Interaction designers are trained to find relevant user groups, talk to customers and read between the lines. They understand how real-world context affects an application’s design.

It takes a lot of leg work, but your efforts to understand user needs will be rewarded. The forefront of mobile technology is an exciting place to be.

Related posts

Please consider our related articles:

• iPhone design mistakes: Over-Design
• iPhone App Design Trends
• How to Create Your First iPhone Application

Special thanks to Larissa Itomlenskis.

(al)

© Alexander Komarov for Smashing Magazine, 2009. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
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