Jason Robb

My Happy Planet

Jason Robb — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:49:23 +0000

Since the beginning of April, I’ve been working for a new company. We’re My Happy Planet, a small startup based in Cambridge, MA, USA. People around the world come to our site to practice or learn a new language with native speakers.

It’s been a really exciting month, and I’m filling the part quite well. I’m the senior web designer. Which means I’m responsible for the visual design and front-end code of the site.

Right now, we’re in the midst of a site-wide redesign of the XHTML and CSS. Ripping out tables, and replacing them with clean, valid, semantic code. I’m learning new things every day and I love my job. That is all for now.

Conference Fever

Jason Robb — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:20:22 +0000

There are a lot of tempting conferences to attend. They’re a great way to network. But mainly, the inspirational value of being at one of these is paramount.

After walking out of An Event Apart Boston ‘07, I was profoundly changed. I felt more connected to the community. It gave me a healthy dose of confidence. And I got to meet a bunch of the nicest people in the industry. So, here is a list of awesome conferences I’d like to attend. Some have already passed, but they’ll come again soon.

Webstock

New Zealand, February 11-15, ‘08 ($???) - Down under, this would be awesome to attend. A week of web goodness. Never been to one, yet. Perhaps some day!

Webstock is a range of web-related events with the aim of improving how websites are built through inspiration, education, insightful analysis and practical application. It features industry leaders and kick-ass speakers talking on topics such as accessibility, web standards, usability and other best practices.

Markup & Style Society

Boston, March 13, ‘08 (Free) - I’ve already mentioned this one. I attended the last one, it was great. I was pleasantly surprised by the short talks on grid-lastic layouts, em-based layouts, craftsmanship, and progressive enhancement. Good show gents. Forsooth.

The Hon. Messrs. Cederholm and Marcotte requeft the pleasure of your company at the moft esteemd Markup and Style Society to convene at Filament Group (102 South Street, 3rd floor, Boston) at seven o’ the clock on the 13th day of March. Charlatanf, ruffianf, and lay-aboutf need not apply.

iA Summit

Miami, April 10-14, ‘08 ($680) - Wish I could go, looks like a killer time. I talked with Candy Shwartz on Monday, a former president of ASIS&T (the organization that hosts the event), and she highly recommended attending. I’m definitely looking forward to next years conference!

The IA Summit is the premier gathering place for those responsible for the structural design of shared information environments; those who dabble or dive into the art and science of organizing and labeling information to support usability and findability; and anyone interested in the community of practice that brings principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.

Seed Conference

Chicago, June 6, ‘08 ($499) - The new version of their site is all text, a lovely example of how an all-hypertext web site can be very beautiful and effective. The event format seems very hand-on and focused on teaching usable concepts. Wish I could go. I hope it doesn’t sell out any time soon. Probably will though.

Learn about taking control of your own work by seeking out methods to inspire new thinking and adopt unconventional ideas about collaboration and business via six presentations and discussions led by 37signals, Segura Inc, Coudal Partners and friends.

An Event Apart

Boston, June 23-24, ‘08 ($895) - Last year was astounding. I’ll be there this year if I can muster the mustard, errr… moneys. The two-day format is especially nice, the speakers don’t seem rushed off the stage, and the breaks in between each give time to chat it up. Catered breakfasts and lunches, free coffee, sponsored party after the first night. Best. Event. Ever.

Join Eric Meyer, Jeffrey Zeldman, and special guests to gain a deeper understanding of web standards and emerging best practices. Be inspired by fresh ideas and new directions. Join the greatest minds and hottest talents in web design today.

Future of Web Design

New York City, November 7, ‘07 ($250) - I went to the one in New York, last November. I really enjoyed what the speakers had to say. Some of them focused on the future, others less as much. I’m not complaining, just saying is all. The venue wasn’t great, poor acoustics, poor lighting (those were complaints). Cheap ticket price was nice! No lunch, no coffee. After party was fun. I would go again if they came to Boston.

Am I missing something? SXSW seems a bit obvious. I might want to go some day. Though I really enjoy small crowds over larger ones. Not sure why, but this event just doesn’t appeal to me very much. I could be wrong.

Feed Me

Jason Robb — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:02:58 +0000

I love the web. I do my best to keep up with it. I use RSS feeds for a majority of my daily intake. Here is a list of sites that I subscribe to and read (when I have the time). The categories aren’t quite accurate, but they make enough sense to me. Enjoy.

Design

Development

News

People

Constrained

Jason Robb — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:57:34 +0000

After reading an article at A Brief Message: No Resistance is Futile, I’ve decided it’s time to revisit my own constraints while blogging. In an effort to enhance the value of my communication, I’ll now be on hiatus from writing long posts on multiple topics. Instead, I’m going to focus on one topic at a time. There are plenty of topics, and plenty of time to talk about them. Enjoy the brevity.

Know thy self

Jason Robb — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:15:39 +0000

I’ve been developing my current identity over the past year or so. It began last summer when I launched this web site with a new logo mark and type. The Word Press theme remained black and white for several months while I considered an approach to designing my own theme. Over the next few months I created a resume and portfolio with the same bland gray scale theme. At some point I incorporated red into the mix and trickled the change across all my designs. I’ve nearly completed the identity design for myself, and figured I’d share the results.

Revised Portfolio

I’ve updated my resume and portfolio. The new version is 24 pages in length, replacing the previous 9-page version. Here are a few of the changes I made:

Added color and adjusted logo type.
Added more screen shots of my web site designs in a larger size.
Added XHTML and CSS code samples.
Added case study for Independence Investment Education.
Printed and stored in a portfolio.
PDF uploaded to my Portfolio page.

Hire me

In addition to the portfolio, I’ve reprinted my cards with an added dash of love. On the back, the cards read “Hire me :-)”, mainly just to fill the back with something. That empty space has always bothered me. Every time I receive a card from someone else, one of my initial reactions is to look at the opposite side of the card. After all, the front is only half of the surface area. It always seemed like a waste to leave 50% of the card blank.

Realigning This Web Site

Still in progress is an update to this sites content. I’ll probably take another week to complete the desired changes. Included in my plan is:

The addition of a contact form, probably this one from Dustin Diaz.
Revisit the copywriting for each page
Update the sidebar content on each page.
Adjust the colors (specifically links) to display better for people with Deuteranopia. (Thanks to a tool by Bernhard Jenny called Color Oracle.)
Branch the CSS files to isolate my browser specific styles. (Thanks to a technique by Ethan Marcotte in Web Standards Creativity.)

So, now that I’ve got myself a consistent visual Identity, it’s just a matter of sticking to it.

Museo by Exljbris

Jason Robb — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:35:36 +0000

Museo - What a great find! Another high quality, free font from Jos Buivenga. Oh, please do check out his other incredible fonts, they’re all highly recommended. I’m very excited about this release. After seeing the slab serif from H&FJ, Archer, I’ve had a hankering to try out a slab serif for myself. Now’s my chance! I made myself a little sample and decided to post it here.

I’ve always wanted to get into typographic design. There is something about the attention to many important details that draws me in. That and the reuse of characters in many situations reminds me of web design. The pros and cons of each situation must be weighed carefully. I can see myself designing a font sometime in the future. Perhaps I’ll dive in some day, but for now, I’ll stick to analyzing and enjoying the high quality fonts of others.

Markup & Style

Jason Robb — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:48:34 +0000

Thursday was great. I reviewed my portfolio before heading to an interview at MyHappyPlanet in Cambridge, MA. They’re a pretty fresh startup, and their company vision looks very promising. They want to become the best language teaching web application ever. It would be enthralling to contribute to, and I’ve got my fingers crossed for a second interview.

Secret Society

Afterwards, I hopped the Red line to South Station, where I met up with 50 other web designers for The Markup & Style Society. I was greeted at the door of Filament Group by the wonderful Patty, who pointed me towards the coat dump. I made my way to the free pizza (which was quite delicious) and free beer (yea, amazing).

Mini Web Conference

This event was surprisingly similar to a big time web conference. There were 4 short talks, about 20 minutes each, with time for questions at the end. I had plenty of time to mingle and network with interesting people in between. It lasted from 7PM to 11PM. At that point, myself and a few hip cats went across the street to finish off the night with another round of brews.

Peas in a Pod

This event reminded me that I’m not alone, and that people who make their living on the web are very similar to each other. They laugh at the same jokes, appreciate the same fine craftsmanship, and understand the hardships that we all undertake. It was a great event, and I’ll definitely be at the next one. Cheers to all those who attended, and better luck next time to those who missed out.

Lately

Jason Robb — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:54:34 +0000

I’ve had lots of things to talk about lately, but none of them seem fit to write about. I’m considering a different approach to blogging and the goals of this web site in general. It seems that my lack of motivation to post here is over powered by my motivation to not post anything but design related items here. It’s a bit complicated, but I believe by realigning the goals of this site, I’ll accomplish two things. 1) Have a site for promoting my services as a freelance designer, and 2) have a site for blogging about anything and everything I feel like talking about.

Stale content is like stale bread, it’s for the birds. Sometimes the birds get fresh bread though. I don’t know how that relates, but it sounded good in my head.

Independence

Jason Robb — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:17:50 +0000

I’ve finally finished some projects I’ve been designing. They’re ready for your viewing pleasure. Once I get the printed ephemera, I’ll post another higher quality image. Enjoy.

Letterhead
Business card
Sign (24″ x 36″)
Magnet (12″ x 4.5″)
Window decal (40″ x 18″)

Back in November, 2007, I started working with Independence Investment Education, a company in Pittsburgh, PA. They provide affordable education for trading stocks and options. It was a great pleasure working with these folks, and I’ve learned a lot about myself in the process.

What did I learn, you say? The two most important things I learned in the past three months are, 1) the meaning of deadlines, and 2) how to give myself a buffer between my optimistic goal and the deadline.

Deadlines mean always finishing early. In the past, with school projects, I would sometimes work up until the day of the deadline, finishing just in time to hand in my work (since then, I’ve broken this nasty habit). However, in the business world, this is not something anyone should risk. Things come up, distractions, delays, anything could happen. You can’t plan for everything, but you can give yourself extra time to recover from delays.

Enter the buffer. Giving yourself more time than you need is essential. One may have the urge to estimate how fast you can complete the task (to please the client’s schedule), and then set that as the deadline. However, this is just plain foolish. For instance, there are a number of things that could delay the launch of a web site (i.e. server crash). It’s hard to account for every one of those things before they happen, but you’ve got to give yourself time to recover from errors, even if they’re not your fault.

Remember, you can (and should) always finish ahead of schedule. If everything goes according to plan, you finish very early, if it doesn’t, you still have to beat the deadline. Learning this has made a huge difference in how I plan my projects. I’ll never miss a deadline, it’s absolutely not an option.

Hustle

Jason Robb — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 22:33:36 +0000

Things are happening. I am performing tasks with my abilities. As the year winds down to zero, I’m in the midst of a torrent of work. I’ve been putting off posting because I’m saving up some goodies for once my projects go live. Then I can talk about them and relax.

At the moment, I’m waist deep in ideas and deliverables leading up to what will be a web site next Friday. I’m going to try to post more in a case study format or something that forces me to pick a side; In accordance with my recent vow to avoid slipping into a habit of writing about myself too much.

Plans for this site are steeping. Ideas for Eleventy72’s site are in the mix with thoughts on YinzSpace. Stay tuned. January has great potential.