Hillman Curtis' MTIV, Designing with Web Standards book club discussion

Submitted by jpamental on

I've been trying to keep up a good habit: reading more about not just what I do, but about other creative disciplines. Having heard Hillman Curtis speak at the FOWD conference on election day, I'd put his MTIV book on my 'wish list' on Amazon. I hadn't worked my way down to it but got a prompt from someone in the office, saying it was an absolute must. So I picked it up and couldn't put it down. I read through it over a weekend and it has made a huge impression on me, and given me a huge refresh in the inspiration department. We've been going through the process of reimagining our own site, and his notion of 'theme' as the central focal point in a design (and development) effort really resonates.

I was also invited to join a 'virtual book club' to discuss Jeffrey Zeldman's Designing with Web Standards book. I read this a year or two ago and think it's one of the best books on my shelf. From a design, a development and a business perspective, it's had a huge impact on how I look at web projects as a whole, and helped put us in a direction to develop some very strong skills in the area of accessibility and standards-based design a and development. That in turn can become a differentiator between our work and others - which is a clear advantage from a business perspective. We've had a couple of calls now discussing as a group the first few chapters, and it's been thoroughly enjoyable.

The latest find is actually more cognitive psychology related to how people find their way - both physically and through digital systems. Looks more like a textbook, but the description on Amazon was pretty fascinating, and I think a better understanding of how people behave will bring some interesting perspectives to developing information architecture and interaction design. Should be interesting! (I don't have the book handy, or I'd post the link... will get back to that later today)