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How to be a web design superhero

Andy Clarke
April 27, 2006

How to be a web design superhero

Originally presented by Andy Clarke at IceWeb, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2006

Andy Clarke

April 27, 2006
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  1. Originally presented by Andy Clarke
    at IceWeb, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2006
    How to be a web
    design superhero
    Andy Clarke is a digital designer, speaker,
    and writer whose designs have helped
    companies around the world to increase
    their sales pipeline and revenue, and
    charities to increase donations.
    He founded Stuff & Nonsense and has
    consulted and designed for clients including
    Disney Store UK, Fairfax Media, Home Office
    (UK), Greenpeace, ISO, SAP, STV, SunLife,
    WIPO, and WWF.
    He works on creative website and digital
    product designs and provides ongoing
    creative direction. He coaches agencies and
    mentors designers on dealing with clients,
    and delivering creative projects.
    If you’re looking to design better digital
    products and websites, develop a design
    system or style guide, or want to understand
    how design can help your business, you
    should talk to him.
    Stuff & Nonsense Ltd. Eversleigh, Lon Capel, Gwaenysgor, Flintshire, LL18 6EJ, UK
    For work enquiries go to
    stuffandnonsense.co.uk
    or call +44 (0)1745 851848

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  2. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License
    How to be a web design superhero
    ANDY CLARKE ICEWEB 2006, REYKJAVIK, ICELAND

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  3. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO

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  4. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO

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  5. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    “ what do you
    want to be ?”
    web designer or
    superhero ?

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  6. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    a survey of 10 people (apparently)
    85% replied that they would
    rather be a superhero!
    85%
    14%
    1%

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  7. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    “ web designers
    should be heroes ”
    but what makes a hero ?

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  8. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    every hero has an origin
    a radioactive spider but Peter Parker,
    Hulk was blasted by gamma rays, the
    Fantastic Four were bathed
    in cosmic rays
    Shaun Inman copied at a copy shop
    Eric Meyer fried at mcdonalds
    Molly Holzschlag was an erotic dancer

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  9. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    web design heroes need a
    weapon of choice
    a trademark weapon

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  10. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    web design heroes often form
    powerful teams
    adaptive path
    clear:left
    happy cog
    heroes form super teams

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  11. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    heroes are selfless
    web design heroes
    share their skills and
    information freely
    blogs
    forums
    projects
    internal evangelism

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  12. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    heroes are motivated
    web design heroes have special
    motivations
    promoting usability
    promoting accessibility
    promoting web standards

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  13. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    is there a web design hero
    sitting next to you?
    heroes lead a double life
    many web designers are known by their alter-ego,
    brothercake, malarkey or the man in blue

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  14. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    heroes dress in striking costumes
    with instantly recognizable logos
    heroes are motif-ated

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  15. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    web design heroes also need a logo
    that set them apart from the crowd
    heroes are motif-ated

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  16. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    heroes need a super web site

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  17. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO

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  18. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO

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  19. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO

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  20. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO

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  21. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO

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  22. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO

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  23. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    “ what powers do
    you need? ”

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  24. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    super heroes need to keep
    pace with new trends:
    to keep pace with the latest
    technologies
    to react when a client says
    “i want the job tomorrow”
    super speed

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  25. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    super heroes need to stretch
    themselves very thin:
    when close to a looming deadline
    to be flexible in your approach
    and not fixed to a particular way
    of working
    super elasticity

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  26. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    super heroes need to see
    into a clients mind:
    to understand what he wants,
    even when he doesn’t know what
    he wants himself
    telepathy

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  27. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    super heroes need to convince
    a client that he does not need:
    a flash splash screen
    to support Netscape 4
    pop-up windows
    AJAX to be cool
    mind control

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  28. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    super heroes need to
    understand user needs:
    understand their goals
    empathize with their problems
    design to “get things done”
    empathy

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  29. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    super heroes need the
    ability to sense:
    problem projects
    problem clients
    see danger signs ahead of time
    a sense of danger

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  30. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    super heroes need to
    see into the future:
    to anticipate new trends
    in design
    to think of new ways to
    use technologies
    precognition

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  31. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    super heroes need to see through
    visual presentation :
    to underlying document structure
    to appropriate semantics
    x-ray vision

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  32. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    sometimes bullets do fly in the
    comments of design galleries or on
    design forums
    super heroes need to take on-board
    constructive criticism and ignore
    jealousy and negative comments
    invulnerabilty

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  33. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    superheroes are vulnerable
    what is your vulnerability?

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  34. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    batman has robin
    superman has jimmy olsen,
    lois lane and krypto the super dog
    heroes have sidekicks

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  35. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    evil genius planning to
    take over the world
    don’t forget the
    super villain

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  36. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    superman
    the batman
    wonder woman
    daredevil
    mister fantastic
    spiderman
    the green lantern
    captain america
    supergirl
    hulk
    zeldman
    tantek celik
    molly holzschlag
    joe clark
    dave shea
    doug bowman
    shaun inman
    eric meyer
    kelly goto
    john oxton

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  37. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    “ I believe that the time has now
    passed for those working with old
    fashioned methods. Those still
    delivering nested table layout,
    spacer gifs or ignoring accessibility
    can no longer call themselves web
    professionals. ”
    http://accessify.com/2005/11/interview-with-andy-clarke-aka.php

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  38. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    “ a superhero never
    stops trying to
    learn how to do
    better ”

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  39. HOW TO BE A WEB DESIGN SUPERHERO
    stuffandnonsense.co.uk/
    downloads/
    designhero.pdf
    presentation slides
    Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License
    all images are copyright of their original owners and all copyrights,
    trademarks and ownerships recognised.
    this presentation is for educational purposes only

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