I had a webinar yesterday on how to successfully execute interface designs when you really have no time to design in. All of the pitfalls the presenter talked about sounded so damn familiar; arguing over little design points that may or may not be useful, spinning your wheels over a section of functionality instead of the whole shabang, grabbing hold of a design bone and not letting go of it no matter how much your teammates plead with you, ad infinitum.

The fast summary of the presentation was toss out most of your process and modify what's left to fit the situation. To hear someone actually say "modify your process" was damn refreshing! Afterwards, I had gleeful thoughts of taking someone from my old job, sitting him down Clockwork Orange style, gagging him, and forcing him to sit through the presentation.

Just to hear someone say that for tight turn around jobs, toss the personas, damn, that was just... well, inwardly, I was waiting for someone to start giving a rambling speech on why that would doom the whole project to utter failure, and no one did! I'm left feeling like I want to research all of the other processes applied to interface design, just for more comparison points to the one process i kept getting hit over the head with, no matter what the project situation was.

Just before I left my old position, I told one of the project managers that I thought the company was really in danger of promoting their specific brand of dogma over concentrating on what approach was best for each specific client situation, i.e., the message was more important that the project, or the client's needs. He didn't think the company was there yet. I did, and I know of a least one other designer who felt the same way.

It's too easy, in the consulting world, to try to get as much money out of your client as you can. This seems to lead to, in my experience, user interfaces that look and work extremely well on paper, but that the client can't afford to build. I'd rather know my limitations up front, and design the best interface I can given a specific set of limitations. I'd rather involve developers from the beginning and know how long certain functionality takes to program. I want to design interfaces that will be built, not stuck in a project folder never to see the light of day.

I feel like there is more than one path in interface design that will get you to your goal, and until now, all but a small handful have been hidden from me.

1.  At the end of last year I was so frustrated with my employer that I had fantasies of setting certain people on fire.
2. About the time I got over it, the place had no work for me anyway.
3. When the place did have work, my back went out. (ER trip, totally couldn't walk for almost a week due to numbness and loss of strength in my right leg, two months to learn how to walk again.)
4. Meanwhile, my husband is also completely fed up with our employers and is looking for a new job.
5. My birthday happens in May, yay!
6. My husband gets fired ten days later.
7. Man, now I REALLY want to set my former employers on fire. (Needless to say, I quit as soon as he got home that evening. I called the co-workers I cared about and let them know.)
8. Much panic ensues.
9. Insurance runs out at the end of May.
10. No second spinal injection to control pain and increase mobility because of no insurance (AND no $$$ because of working for jerk former employers for 2 years. Can you say "sweatshop"? I know I can now.)
11. I send a resume out 5 days after quitting.
12. I get called that day.
13. Exactly a month later i start a real job with a real salary and real benefits.
14. Hope glimmers.
15. Sean gets a new job just under two months later.
16. Now things start to role.
17. Giddy happiness ensues as we go back to non-stressful work  and actually making enough money to work on our debt and pick up anime and manga every now and then.

That's our story so far, for the year to date. I've had a major life shift, but it was necessary. I'm now in control of my own insurance and I have fantastic retirement benefits. Will i be kicking out as much comics, art and other stuff? Well no, but considering I didn't have enough money to buy toner cartridges earlier this year, it's a trade off I'm comfortable with.

Most importantly, I'm happier now than I think I've been in just about a decade.

That was entirely more excitement than I needed...  

What have I been doing for the last couple of months? Mostly getting used to working 40 hours a week again. But since I'm in the middle of a comic project right now, I'll be posting here again. (Sadly, with no pictures until I can buy a new scanner...)

Comics: Not just for laughs! by Rebekah Sedaca

Information architects and user interface designs, as well as comic artists, should read this!

I'm still loving my new job, all the more so for getting my first check yesterday. Once Sean starts his job on July 9th our money woes are officially over.

Once our savings has been rebuilt from the Menlo years we'll start working on the debt.

And then we'll start working on the house and yard.

Do I miss my free wheeling artist days? A bit. But with my health and our debt, living like that was just too stressful. And once I adjust to 40 hours a week, the art and comics will return.

(Oh, and massive update of the late June garden on flickr.) ;)

I missed the solstice, but hey, they're still new pictures. ;)

Today I'm working on getting more tomatoes into pots.

Oh, and for the record: I had my first official fall in the garden last night, while wearing the official damn brace. feh. Just strained my shoulder and made my sciatic nerve a bit cranky.