If you’re a designer with geek cred (a pair of specs, a personal website/blog, and an iPhone/iPad… example), you probably already know about the innovation taking place across the design community commonly referred to as “Layer Tennis“. Kyle blogged a bit about it in this post.

Basically what happens is this: a designer sends another designer an image that might have graphic design elements. The receiving designer then adds his/her flair and sends it back. This process repeats.

Collaborating with people you never will meet face to face is extremely easy now thanks to the internet. Not to mention, it is extremely green since you can do it from your own living room. I’ve compiled a little list of good design collaboration projects and websites that are following that same Layer Tennis model.

DesignSwap – DesignSwap’s sole purpose is to promote collaborations between designers by saying one simple thing – I design on your site, you design on mine.

Layer Tennis – Ten designers in ten cities, fifteen minutes at a time. Follow @LayerTennis on Twitter.

Dribbble – Rebounds: Respond with a follow-up of your own. Iterate and play off the shots of others.

Fark – One of the first sites to do this… and a Photoshop design contest is always in session.

I can has cheez burger? – I can’t think of a better way to waste time and collaborate creatively with others at the same time!

I’ve never taken place in a design battle, but I would jump at the chance if anybody out there in museum/design land wants to serve me. So… who wants to step into my cipher?

Filed under: Design, New Media, Technology

I’m not talking about our location, but the method we used to lay out our new website.

A trending choice for web designers is to use a grid layout system as a way to streamline web development workflow by providing commonly used dimensions. We based ours on a design with the width of 960px because our most common visitor’s screen resolution is still hovering at 1024 x 768 (according to Google Analyitics). Our grid system of choice is the ever easy to use and understand 960 Grid System. We chose the 12 column layout.

IMA Homepage with 960.gs grid layout overlay

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Technology

Now that the new IMA web site is live, we want to take time to introduce you to some new features over the next few weeks.  Rob gave a behind the scenes look at many of these features last week, but we’ll be going into more detail.

First up, collections search.

Search is available on every page on the site.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Technology

Balancing form and function is something every designer sets out to accomplish. With the European Design show approaching in 2009, this seems like a valid topic and something that has been on my mind as I have begun working on creative mockups for the exhibition website. The pieces in the collection are amazing and a huge inspiration!

So, what is the answer? Which is more important? From my experience, the balance line shifts depending on the content and audience. I tend to be a fan of simple and clean design. The problem for designers who want to stick to the basics with a no fuss minimal interface is there is a good chance your audience and/or client will think it is “boring”. I still have a hard time articulating to peers why less is more in the long run. I think the best examples we as designers give is through results.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Design, Technology

It’s been a pretty busy time of year in the MIS department, and as you can imagine, we spend most of our days huddled over our computers hitting keys and cursing blue screens of death. In today’s world it’s ever-so-easy to become consumed by your computer and forget about reality.

The crisp autumn breeze and smell of change in the air has always put me in a great mood and provided creative inspiration. If you’re stuck in a rut at your computer, you need to get out and take a stroll through the grounds and park here at the IMA! Your spirits will be lifted in no time, I promise. Of course, if it’s raining you can always come inside and experience the great indoors.

Unfortunately, we don’t all have the option to leave the office and get outside. So I pulled out 10 sites from my del.icio.us bookmarks and put together a list of 10 sites that bring creative inspiration directly to your browser. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Design, Technology