Andy Rutledge from http://unitinteractive.com/

Recent News from Andy Rutledge

• Complex Order, Simple Chaos
  

  …Now, it is not my purpose here to broadly incriminate efforts at simplification, but I put it to you that in many cases recommendations toward simplicity are the lazy/shallow man’s answer to design. Complexity is seldom problematic …in anything. But where complexity would seem to be a problem, it’s likely that order, not simplicity, should be imposed. Complexity is often inherent in or even vital to the success of a product, application, or website experience. To design-away that vital complexity is to damage the product and the user experience. And perhaps the human experience…
• Gestalt Principles of Perception: 1 - Figure Ground Relationships
  

  Why learn this stuff? At the risk of sounding like a late night TV commercial, Gestalt principles of perception help to take the guesswork out of design. For instance, once the page content is defined and the communicative objectives are known, Gestalt principles make clear how to distribute elements on the page, when and why to use line delineation, background shading, a gradient, or when and why to group things in an enclosure (or not). Once you understand Gestalt principles, design becomes much simpler and your creative ideas will enjoy a far more effective articulation…
• Web 0.2
  

  I suspect the next year or two will be the best time ever for freelance designers and developers, and even for small agencies in the US. But only the most savvy and professional freelancers will be able to survive the economy we’re entering. Small businesses have had certain advantages ever since the advent of the Web, but I believe we’re entering primetime for agile and opportunistic squirrels, as the larger beasts lumber and sputter along. I think the coming years will in many ways be a return to the early days and wide-open frontier of Web design and development business. Web 0.2. This situation favors free agents, and here’s why.…