What moved you to take the leap to Expression Studio?
I've been using Photoshop since version 4 introduced in 1996. As a photo imaging product, it's been great. Like many web developers, however, I have been using Photoshop 98% for design elements, and 2% for photographic enhancement. I've realized over the past couple years that what I really need is a program to assist me with design elements such as gradients, rounded corners, borders, patterns, textures, etc. I decided to try Expression Design as an experiment -- all the while knowing I could retreat back to Photoshop if I needed to. But after several web site launches and redesigns, I'm quite happy to stay with Expression Studio for all my website design needs.
What were the biggest pain points during your transition to Expression?
Bitmap manipulation tools deal with pixels. After ten years focused on pixel manipulation, it was kind of tough getting used to sub-pixel placement of elements in the wild and crazy vector-based world, but I've come to appreciate the power that vector-based applications bring to the designer's toolbox.
What helped make the transition go more smoothly?
A big part of deciding to switch to Expression Design is its strict adherence to non-destructive manipulations. Every element adjustment, color correction, warping, etc. is reversible. With Photoshop, I was constantly saving copies of layers, copies of groups, copies of entire files -- in fear that the experimentation I was about to perform would do some irrevocable damage. Then later, I often found myself trying to figure out which of the six copies of a file was the one that I actually used for the final version of the website.
With Expression Design, I can fearlessly experiment with transformations because the original is never destroyed. There is a great sense of relief and freedom with this realization. Not to mention the hard drive space savings.
How can we improve the products to suit your needs better?
I would just ask the team to continue to connect with users to gain an understanding of how we're actually using the product and ways to streamline workflows. Additional tools to assist in cutting images from photos would save me a lot of time. Inner Glow would be nice. And if the team could incorporate the manipulative Gradient Transform tool from Expression Blend into Expression Design, it would take the guesswork out of gradient transformations.
What resources were particularly helpful while you were learning?
The help files and videos are great. I know that sounds unexciting, but as someone who creates his own software product, I admire and commend the Expression Studio team for creating such a rich set of useful documentation resources.
Where do you think design, as a discipline, is headed?
I'm sensing from designer blogs and from hallway conversations at web design events such as SXSW Interactive that many designers are moving away from Photoshop/bitmap tools and towards vector-based graphics programs. I'm also reading that in a world of web applications, improving the flow from designer graphics to developer code and XHTML is becoming more of a concern.
The Expression Studio development team seems intentionally focused on providing designer-to-developer workflow solutions. Expression Blend, in fact, is able to open Visual Studio project files. I don't see other products even attempting to provide this level of workflow synergy. I think products that address designer-developer workflow concerns will be well positioned for long-term success.
Where do you find yourself heading with your own design / dev practice?
I'm a left-brained software developer first and foremost. I'm not that great at drawing pretty pictures. A good chunk of designing a pleasing website, however, comes from understanding positioning, affordance, color harmony, typography, visual hierarchy and balance. Many designers equate design with problem-solving; understanding how humans perceive page elements and incorporating that knowledge into a website that assists in guiding users to the information they are looking for. I'd like to continue to develop those types of design skills.
There's so much more that goes into creating a website than "Make it do X" or "Make it purple." Addressing design and interaction concerns while also making it visually appealing is a challenge. I try to improve with each new website I create.
What inspires you to do your best work?
I'm inspired to create usable websites by usability gurus Jakob Nielsen, Steve Krug, and Jeff Johnson. I'm inspired to make my websites aesthetically pleasing by design titans Khoi Vihn, Mark Boulton, and Andy Budd. I'm inspired to create websites via web standards by Dan Cederholm, Eric Meyer, and Jeffery Zeldman. I'm inspired to enrich the user experience by interaction superstars Cameron Adams, Jonathan Snook, and Shaun Inman. Finally, I'm inspired to make those usable, aesthetically pleasing, standards-compliant, engaging sites fully accessible by Derek Featherstone, Robert Nyman, and Roger Johanssen.
My sister, a pastry chef, doesn't consume a croissant like you and I do. She tears it apart and investigates the insides, the texture and consistency. It's not just a matter of taste, although taste is important. In a similar way, I don't visit websites the same way that most folks do. I tear them apart, look at the underlying XHTML and investigate the brand and user interface consistency. I'm constantly asking myself "Why do I like this site better than that one?" Then I try to identify and quantify the reasons behind my emotional response and incorporate those elements into my web development repertoire. I learn from many different sources: blogs, books, e-books, podcasts, conferences. I hope to attend Mix next year.
What tips can you share with people just getting started with the Expression Studio tools?
First, understand and embrace vector-based graphics conceptually and second, experiment with all the different tools the product provides. Oh, and when working at high zoom levels, Shift+spacebar (to bring up the pan navigation tool) is my best friend.
More Info:
Want more info? Check out Carl’s blog focusing on:
- Creating internet standards-compliant sites with Microsoft technology (ASP.NET, C#, IIS)
- Web standards and best practices (CSS, XHTML, and XSLT)
- Vine Type: the content management system he wrote