Last week in the studio (CW45-26)

A quiet week in the studio gave me time to start writing a new video course, plan the months ahead, and enjoy a monstrously good trip to the cinema.

Last week in the studio was very quiet because a job I’d hoped to start was pushed back until the new year. With Moonwalk Audio going live and Standout Designs for the Web finished and ready for pre-orders on the 12th, I suddenly had very little to do.

Maybe it’s a feature of an (undiagnosed) ADHD brain, but I don’t do well when I don’t have something I can focus on to the exclusion of everything else. So, without a client project to occupy my attention, I brought forward some things I’d been planning to do in December and January.

Standout Designs for the Web video course

At the top of my list was writing the script for a new video course to complement my book, Standout Designs for the Web. I want this course to show my design process and how I put the book’s lessons into practice. I want people to watch me working through design decisions rather than spend a couple of hours listening to me read the book aloud.

I started by outlining the content. I’m sure this will change as I write, but so far it includes:

1. Finding the story
2. Creating a visual language
3. Breaking away from familiar layouts
4. Making the details matter
5. Creating consistency, not uniformity
6. Knowing when a design is finished

Each segment needs an introduction and conclusion, plus notes on what I’ll show on-screen and explain as I work through the examples. By the end of the week, I’d finished the first drafts of the introduction and the first two segments.

If at all possible, I want to record the videos sometime in December so I can edit them while we’re away in Germany and France during January and February. If not, they’ll have to wait until we get home in March.

Godzilla Minus Zero

Meanwhile, I went to see the new Godzilla Minus Zero movie. I persuaded Sue to go with me to see the previous movie, but surprisingly, she wasn’t enthusiastic about going again. Well, it was her loss. It was monsterously good, and I may well go and see it again this coming week.

So, I started the week wondering what on earth I'd do with myself. By Friday, I’d given myself something new to hyper-focus on because, apparently, I’m incapable of sitting still.