Adobe have unveiled “Muse”, their new web design tool which promises the ability to publish websites without writing any HTML code. Designers will be able to design and build sites using a piece of software which is similar to Adobe InDesign. If you’re familiar with Adobe’s other products such as Photoshop and Illustrator, then you’ll know all about palettes, toolbars and other floating boxes. Muse looks and feels somewhat similar.

Adobe Muse is available in beta form right now from Adobe for Windows XP or newer and Mac OS X 10.6 or newer, so long as the Adobe Air 2.7 framework is installed. Muse is a codename, as Adobe have not announced a definitive schedule for release of version 1. The Muse website (which itself was created using Muse) says a version 1 release will happen in early 2012.

The website production process using Muse is defined as:

• Plan
• Design
• Preview
• Publish

Plan allows designers to define all pages on a site. Master pages allow the designers to create templates for different parts of the site such as headers, footers and logos.

Design allows the user to layout images, text and other content from services such as YouTube and social networking sites, as well as creating slideshows using widgets.

Preview enables users to test their site.

Publish requires an Adobe Business Catalyst account. The site is published and hosted by Adobe. However, Adobe says once Muse’s trial phase is over, designer will be able to pay Adobe to host their site, or importantly choose to host sites at other providers. You can currently export HTML to output the HTML and CSS files and upload to a host of your choice.

It sounds very promising and I was glad to read that the sites can be published to any host. In my own experience teaching web design, I find that after learning Photoshop and Illustrator, students tend to hit a bit of a wall when we move into Dreamweaver in terms of placing text and images on screen. Using Dreamweaver requires a shift in thinking when it comes to layout and using DIV tags along with CSS can seem quite laborious compared with a click and drag of the mouse as happens in the other Adobe programs.

You can download the free beta of Muse now on the Adobe site.

The UK design council has an article on it’s site outlining how many firms see the benefits of good design for their business. Naturally as a designer I have am somewhat biased and completely agree that good design can elevate a company to another level, but it is heartening to read some of the case studies in the article.

During hard times investment in design can give a business a competitive edge over rivals who are reining in their design and innovation budgets in order to save money. As American Express chief executive Ken Chenault told Fortune magazine: ‘A difficult economic environment argues for the need to innovate more, not to pull back.’ Similarly, in September 2008 following a crisis in the global financial markets and in the face of an impending worldwide recession, Intel’s chairman Craig Barrett told Reuters that investment in the company’s products and innovation remained very much on track. ‘We’ve always had the attitude that you have to make that investment in good times and bad,’ he is quoted as saying.

The case studies include some of the big boys like Swatch and McDonalds but also smaller businesses who have turned things around following an investment in design.

Free Ebook Guide to Working With A Designer
The design council has also produced a few downloadable pdf explaining the following;
* How to find a designer
* How to choose a designer
* How to agree budgets and costs
* Writing a brief and getting the project started
* Working with your designer
* Completing the design project

And I should probably mention at this point, if you are looking for some web design work, graphic design or logos or illustration work, (holds hand up) we’re here!!
Check out our portfolio and please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss your design needs.

Europe by Designers is an international art project. It sounds like it’s a very open brief for just about anyone who wants to enter. The deadline is 31st of December, so if Santy brings you new crayons or colours for Christmas this could be a good opportunity.

Here’s a useful design resource from SwagStream. Two sets of seamless wood backgrounds – very useful for web design work.

Set 1

Set 2

TaskFive is a new, free online application created by Contrast, an Irish web development company. It is an online To Do list and it is without doubt the simplest and most elegant application I’ve seen to handle this.

Generally I’m a pen and paper kinda girl and this is the closest thing I’ve seen to that kind of simplicity, except you can share your piece of paper with clients, colleagues and friends. The design is clean and beautiful and just lovely to use.

The application does more that I’m describing here, but for me the ability to quickly add a task, move it and mark it as done is all I need.

Two newspaper websites have an interview and article with Sol Sender, the graphic designer who created the logo for the Barack Obama campaign. The New York Times website has a nice interview where he discusses how the job came about and how they came up with the idea. The Philadelphia news has a similar article about Sol Sender and the logo.

Like all good logos it’s simple and memorable.