Comments on Making the Invisible Visible: Process, Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer

Real Estate Web Design — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:23 GMT

Clients should always see the final, otherwise you have headaches when they’re not satisfied.

austin — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:23 GMT

I disagree with Mike about Hillman’s advice on selling your designs. If you’ve done as Hillman suggests (communicate clearly with your client, involve them, know them, what they want, and who your audience is), then you’ve already sold the design before the client sees the final.

They’ve already seen your sketches, rough drafts, and comps, and they’ve already commented and given their suggestions.

At the point you show them the final design, you shouldn’t *need* to sell your design. It’s merely the last iteration in a long process the client has been involved in.

I’m used to selling my designs, but having recently moved to higher ed, I’m shocked that I don’t need to, and not because I communicate with my “clients”. They just trust me.

Otherwise, I loved the book. It was real stories and why and why not. It was experience. I didn’t think it was self-congratulatory at all. It was story-telling. It was happy hour with Hillman talking about design and how he does it, and I while readong, I found myself responding with my own experiences. I found MTIV to be a conversation I’ve been wanting to have for a long time.

christina — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:23 GMT

MTIV is a pretty good book—i think—and full of insights and things to think about. And of course, stuff one doesn’t agree with. Heck, I can’t remember the last time I read a book and agreed 100% with it.

But I am getting tired of “design as magic” as much as “usability as science” :-)

Fred — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:23 GMT

great book…
perfect? no, but what book is. I read it in two sittings and relly loved it. As for the all the player-haters – read the billy bragg quote at the beginning of the book

christina — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:23 GMT

“Can’t charge a fortune for mere craftsmanship; chequebooks only come out for Art.” http://www.textism.com/maunifesto/

mike monteiro — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:23 GMT

this book contains what might possibly be the WORST piece of design advice i’ve ever read:

...never, ever sell your design. You should be able to lay out your comps in front of the clients and if you have heard them, stayed true to their desires, and included them in the creative process, the designs should speak for themselves. The client should be able to look at the designs and see a
bit of themselves…
...resist the temptation to sell your designs, because it’s not about educating your client as to how and why design works… they already know!

so, they client should just ‘get it’? this perpetuates the myth of design as something that can’t be discussed or debated, but rather it’s just some bit of ‘magic’ passed from hillman’s soul to the client. and if the client is true and if hillamn is true, than a light will go on, everything will click, profit margins soar and Frodo reaches Mt. Doom safely.

nathan bowers — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:23 GMT

Hillman Curtis’ dirty secret: he doesn’t get the web.

His website www.hillmancurtis.com says it all: HE USES IMAGES INSTEAD OF TEXT.

I like some of Curtis’ animation, but his first book is self-congratulatory, and “overdesigned” so as to be unreadable.

We should all be over the hype by now, and we should question rather than applaud work by web design “icons” that fails to embrace the nature of the web.

Tom — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 15:34:29 GMT

”..there are so many moments of self congratulation in the first half…”

I can see how the book might be interpretated as such, but I personally felt otherwise; I felt that the personal reflections were rooted in more real life situations. I want to know how he felt; what were his motivations? How did he generate ideas and solutions? Often the answers to those questions call for a deeper and more personal look of the person presenting them.

I come from a fine arts background in illustration; I had no formal training in graphic design, but I’ve been working as designer (in New Media and am presently a senior) for about 5 years now. Hillman’s personal accounts and biography appealed to me immediately – for years I’ve known how to design but not entirely why I did things the way I did. Hillman’s book, for me personally, really hit the spot, for it’s been a refreshing and clarifying modicum in a large world of development. I relished his personal experiences, because I could relate to them, but in all fairness not everyone will relate and thus potentially be turned off.

I feel that this book is well worth every penny, and I highly recommend it to the novice and seasoned pro.

Mark Privett — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:22 GMT

I saw hillman curtis (lower case only, please) speak in Feb. 2001 at the FlashForward conference in SF and he turned me and the audience on. He introduced us to what turned him on and inspired him, books on directing by Sidney Lumet and the opening title sequence to Donny Brasco among other things.

I returned a year later and his 40 min talk, which was supposed to be an hour, focused on the video clips he had shot to accompany his upcoming book, MTIV. Too much!

Hilman should talk art, design, and inspiration, not Hillman.

christina — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:22 GMT

This book would have been perfect except for one thing… there are so many moments of self congratulation in the first half, it feels a bit like a sales job. That said, it’s still worth buying (right after Tolleson’s Soak Wash Rinse Spin
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1568981988/boxesan… )

Many moments of advice, inspiration and charm. I just wish I could have been a reader the whole time, and not a potential client.