How to be a web design superhero

Originally presented by Andy Clarke at SXSW, Austin, Texas, 2006

Transcript

1. Originally presented by Andy Clarke
   at SXSW, Austin, Texas, 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. SXSW INTERACTIVE MARCH 2006
   images from
   www.alexrossart.com andy budd and andy clarke
   how to be a
   web design
   superhero
   

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3. what would you
   prefer to be?
   a web designer
   or a superhero?
   Q
   

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4. 1
   85
   1
   4
   %
   %
   %
   apparently a survey of 100 people asked
   a85% replied that
   they would
   prefer to be a
   superhero!
   

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5. to survive in a modern
   world, web designers
   must be superheroes
   

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6. learn what it takes to
   become a web design
   superhero
   

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7. what makes a
   superhero?
   

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8. EVERY HERO
   HAS AN ORIGIN
   A RADIOACTIVE SPIDER BIT
   PETER PARKER, BRUCE
   BANNER WAS BLASTED BY
   GAMMA RADIATION AND THE
   FANTASTIC FOUR WERE
   BATHED IN COSMIC RAYS
   

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9. web design
   superheroes have
   strong morals,
   strong code and a
   strong moral code
   superheroes have a
   strong moral code,
   risking all for the
   greater good
   

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10. web design
    superheroes
    share their skills
    and information
    freely
    superheroes are
    selfless as they fight
    crime and keep the world
    safe from danger
    

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11. many web design
    superheroes have
    special motivations
    such as promoting
    usability or web
    standards
    superheroes have
    special motivations
    

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12. you may have seen a web design
    superhero s work, but do you
    know what they look like?
    are they sitting next to you?
    superman is clark kent,
    spiderman is peter parker,
    many web designers too
    lead a secret, double life
    ’
    

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13. superheroes often
    retreat to a secret
    hideaway
    web design superheroes
    need a secret hideaway,
    a source of inspiration,
    somewhere to store
    super gadgets
    

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14. superheroes are easily
    identified by their
    costumes and logos
    

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15. web designers also require
    a great logo to set them
    apart from the crowd
    

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16. and a super website
    

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17. superheroes often
    have a mundane job by
    day and exercise their
    super powers by night
    many web design
    superheroes are the
    same, exercising their
    skills by night on
    personal projects
    

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18. adaptive path
    happy cog
    blue flavor
    sometimes superheroes
    group together to
    form powerful teams
    

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19. the best designers
    are skilled their with
    tools and have a
    utility belt full of
    useful stuff: fonts,
    icons and images
    some superheroes dont
    have superpowers, relying
    instead on gadgets and
    special abilities
    

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20. web designers also
    need a weapon of
    choice, be that
    photoshop, flash or
    the humble text editor
    many superheroes have a
    trademark weapon
    

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21. what super
    powers do you
    need to become a
    web design
    superhero?
    a superheros main
    defining feature is their
    super power
    

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22. superpowers
    

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23. to keep pace
    with new
    trends and
    technologies
    super speed
    to react when a
    client says i want
    it tomorrow!’’
    ’’
    

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24. elasticity
    an ability to stretch ones self very
    thin, particularly close to a
    looming deadline
    

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25. telepathy and clairvoyance
    an ability to see into a clients mind
    and understand what he means by
    i want it easy to use and other
    such vaguerisms
    ’’
    ’’
    

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26. mind control
    an ability to convince a client that
    he does not need a flash splash
    screen or pages of content nobody
    will read
    

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27. empathy
    an ability to understand users,
    their goals and problems
    

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28. ability to sense
    problem
    projects or
    clients
    danger Sense
    see problems
    and rectify
    them before
    they happen
    

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29. precognition
    an ability to see into the future
    and anticipate new trends
    

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30. x-ray vision
    the ability to see through visual
    presentation to the underlying
    semantics, to avoid making
    presentational markup and css
    

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31. invulnerability
    sometimes bullets do fly in the
    comments of design galleries or on
    design forums
    

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32. invisibility
    where ARE the
    women in web
    design?
    

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33. batman has robin,
    superman has jimmy
    olsen, lois lane
    and krypto the
    super dog
    alongside many
    superheroes is a sidekick
    

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34. superman s pal
    jimmy olsen
    the boy wonder
    robin
    every superhero needs a pal
    ’
    

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35. superman has lex
    luthor, spiderman has
    the green goblin
    every superhero needs a villain
    

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36. every superhero needs a villain
    evil genius who
    plans to take over
    the world
    green goblin
    

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37. who are your heroes?
    Superman
    the batman
    wonder woman
    daredevil
    captain fantastic
    spiderman
    the green lantern
    captain america
    flash
    supergirl
    hulk
    zeldman
    tantek celik
    molly holzschlag
    jeff veen
    dave shea
    doug bowman
    shaun inman
    cameron moll
    joshua davis
    veerle peiters
    john oxton
    

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38. which superpowers
    would you choose
    and why?
    Q
    

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39. andy budd
    andybudd.com / sxsw06 / super .pdf
    andy clarke
    stuffandnonsense .co.uk / downloads / super .pdf
    all images are copyright of their original owners and all
    copyrights, trademarks and ownerships recognised. this
    presentation is for educational purposes only
    images from
    www.alexrossart.com
    

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