Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Chesway Theway

The original Creative Director …the first one I knew

An effort to understand the origin of my biases

The evolution technology = changes in the design industry = the adaptability of my mother….(image source: http://ift.tt/2tAzNg1)

1981

September, final year of high school, before writing her final paper…my mom went job hunting. She couldn’t afford to go to college, as she was raised by her pensioner grandmother.

2 Dec she wrote her final exam.

14 Dec she got her first job as a bank teller.

In 6 months, she had moved within every department they had and was running the treasury department. She realised there wasn’t much scope for growth in this industry for her and resigned.

So begins her 30 year journey in the Design & Print Industry…

She knew she had to work, so took on a job as a receptionist operating the switchboard in a printing company. She figured she’d work here until she decided what she really wanted to do with her life. Receptionist like this:

image source: http://ift.tt/2tAKjne

Back then, clients would drop off order forms for printing, and there would always be mistakes from client to printers. And this wasn’t a case of just resending via email to fix the errors. There had to be specifics added to the jobs in order for the printers to proceed. My mom got so tired of the back and forth of mistakes, delays and unhappy clients, that she asked the printing company to just show her what needed to be specified, so that she could immediately check if the client drop off was correct.

This is where understanding the production process ( required output ) worked to my moms advantage throughout her career.

1982–1986

Offered a position by one of the clients. This was the start of her Graphic Design career. Creating concepts, design & layout using dry-transfer lettering sheets for bromide paper to make negatives for printing. Communicating with printers and clients done using telex machine ( to send written instructions ) before fax machines existed. Electronic Typewriter entered were you could pre-type and check before sending…less use for Tipp-Ex ). Her tools consisted mainly of grid paper, colour pencils, markers, clip art, photocopying, Letraset.

The literal process of cut & paste. All this happened before sending the final signed off copy from client for typesetting. She said it felt like she was “playing in nursery school”. Design, layouts, dealing with clients, typesetting & production.

But there was no further room for growth in this company.

1986

She then decided to become a print rep for print brokers.

1987

Starts as sales rep for mac ( http://ift.tt/2sRJycB)

Then one day, a client of hers realised that laser printers and Desktop Publishing was a threat to traditional printing. He offered her a position to be at the forefront of bringing computers into the business industry. To start selling Apple Macs + DTP to their clients to ensure that clients would integrate with their printing equipment.

Apple Mac was the chosen product, because he saw it as the standard in the graphic design industry. (Mac OS was the first computer with a successful GUI — this changed the industry).

Instead of fearing the change, she embraced it.

Being the type of person she is, she couldn’t sell something she didn’t understand. And thus began the entry of Apple into our home, and her education in Mac OS, Aldus PageMaker & Macromedia Freehand. ( Internal backup and storage systems which were Mac compatible was most of my mom’s talk during this time ) — I wouldn’t know…I was 3 years old

Aldus PageMaker (image source: http://ift.tt/2tAprwI)

My mom had to train clients to use the hardware as well as the software. This is why she knew everything there was to know about Macs. She had to learn how to use it fully in order to set up training for others.

I asked her what she remembers most about that time, and she reckons “…booting mac with a 3½” stiffy.”

History of the floppy disk – Wikipedia

It seems so archaic now, but she loved it. “At the time, being at the forefront of a revolution, where there was no one to ask how to do it, because it hadn’t been done yet. Everything was new and a process had to be created.”

Everything she knew, she taught herself. Through trial and error.

Eventually she completed training to become certified in Advanced Mac OS, Quark, Freehand …at a later stage Advanced Photoshop. To check if she’d missed anything in her self-taught knowledge. (Turned out, she knew more than the instructor).

1990 : Starts new company as freelancer “Puffin Projects”

image source: http://ift.tt/1JLKnjl http://ift.tt/2tAFtXi

My mom bought her own DTP set up and began freelancing. Offering the full solution of concept, design, layout + print broker. In those days a DTP set up was a Mac SE (+19″ black and white monitor — as the Mac’s screen was too small ), 300dpi scanner(b&w) and 300dpi printer (b&w). The evolution of DTP : from PageMaker to Quark Express…eventually to Adobe InDesign. (Adobe aquires Aldus in late 1994)

1991

<a href="http://ift.tt/2sRltmg">http://ift.tt/2sRltmg</a>

Photoshop then became a new addition to our family. Scanning thousands of photographs, then editing and completing adjustments for publishing. (Over the years, newer ways to complete tasks. After the introduction of digital cameras and digital printing, things only got better. I remember helping my mom scan images previously, and getting the alignment wrong).

I remember that deep etching was always a tedious part of the process back in the day around 2003, I hated dealing with deep etching people, especially hair. Eventually when the product improved, my mom showed me why the magnetic lasso was better than the pen tool. After improvements to “content aware” feature, now all edges selected perfectly. No more work around and wasting time.

There are so many awesome features in Photoshop, but that’s a book on it’s own.

Work time cut down to a fraction it was before. Leaving more room for focus on the important things, allowing you to be more creative as well as time to actually create a “life”.

1994: Power Macintosh

image source: http://ift.tt/2sRJycB

Internet enters our home sometime around 1996

My mom goes to the university (UNISA Roodepoort — Florida Campus), to teach artists. They had to move from hand work/freehand to Macromedia Freehand, to create vector content for training manuals. As their previous method of scanned hand drawn images/photographs were making the files too big. And back then the amount of processing power couldn’t handle this way of working.

Moral of the story : Adapt or die. Change is natures way of weeding. Either grow or be weeded out.

1996 : Starts new company : “Lilies & loaves”

My mom has magic hands. Anything she touches becomes a business. She has always been her most creative when it comes to food. As she views it as an art and a science, her meals — are unforgettable. Anyone who meets her thinks she’s a professional chef. Technically she is, as she’s been cooking and baking since the age of 5. She can merely taste something or see an image of it, and imagine the taste — then goes home to recreate it in the kitchen.

During this time, she planned to take time off due to the birth of my brother. But got itchy feet after 9 months at home…always kept busy, and created. Next becoming a qualified florist, and started offering wedding/events flowers & catering. In order to be able to spend the majority of her time with my brother. Thereafter becoming a main supplier of lunches to the corporates in our vicinity. ( I remember having the best school lunches during this time )

From left: Bunless burger, buttermilk rusks, vanilla sponge cupcake — (she even makes “banting” taste good)

±1998 -2003

1998 : Adobe ImageReady

ImageReady is a discontinued bitmap graphics editor that was shipped with Adobe Photoshop for six years. It was available for both Windows and OS X platforms from 1998 to 2007. This application was designed for web development and closely interacted with Photoshop.

Later animation feature in Photoshop replaces Image Ready.

Starts new company “DTPWorkshop”

After freelancing, she opened up her own design studio and helped train other junior designers straight out of college looking for work experience. 50% of whom, followed in her footsteps, and became entrepreneurs… opening their own studios.

image source: http://ift.tt/2sRfSMC

“Knowledge is meant to be shared. Always share knowledge to help empower others”. Life lesson #1 (mom)

2000 — 2004 Starts new companies : Black Apples & BragBooks

image source: http://ift.tt/2sRJycB http://ift.tt/2sRflKo

During this time, I really liked my moms clients. EA Games & Ubisoft. Her screen would always look so much more interesting. Files would be couriered from Europe & the US, and she would have to repurpose the DVD packaging and manuals for the SA market. At the time she used Quark Express because multiple language dictionaries were supported. Then one day, she couldn’t open the files.

Client had moved from Quark to InDesign…that day, she had to get InDesign, learn it, and prepare files for production in under 5 days.

In 2002, InDesign was the first Mac OS X-native desktop publishing (DTP) software.

Finish the job …find a way.

image source: Amazon.com http://ift.tt/2sRmTNq

Moving to new software is normal in our home. ( I thought this was normal everywhere )

As the PC games produced started looking more realistic, this also meant that the packaging had to reflect that and ensure consistency across the games as well as printed material. Which in turn meant dealing with hundreds of adjustment layers in the design files. Larger files, meant better hardware was required, thus my mom always bought macs based on their capabilities to be able to complete her work without frustration.

From issues with floppy discs, the first time a CD-ROM drive was added to the mac, the first usb disk drive, to dealing with incompatible software and the continuous upgrading hardware…Every new device or advancement in technology, my mom would explore and show me the awesomeness of it. Learn how to use it to it’s fullest, so you can learn how it can save you time.

I remember getting my first iPod during this time…from a little pink boombox to a walkman to a discman to an iPod…I’m glad to have seen this progression.

Long hours, late at nights for last minute client changes. An inside look at the life of a designer and educating clients.

Thereafter, she was one of the first to create the production of Photobooks/Coffee table books into the country. Personalised products for anyone to create, delivered to your door.

iPhoto : Mac Photobooks distribution points set up all over South Africa

At the time iPhoto allowed you to create your own photobooks, but you could only order them from the US for printing. And no one wanted to print it here, as it wasn’t standard SA ISO sizes.

My mom saw the opportunity and took it!

Started a new business “BragBooks”

She spoke to her printers to show them how it would work, and organised distribution points all around SA, so that photographers (or designers) could create better portfolios for their clients. So that anyone could create their own bragbooks/ albums (weddings etc.), save to disc, drop off at one of her distribution points and have printed book couriered to them within 5–7 days.

From there, printed canvases, calendars, magnets, puzzles etc..anything that could be printed could be personalised.

2000’s: there was a trend of print and e-book sales moving to the Internet, …readers buy traditional books and e-books on websites using e-commerce systems

Commercially produced and sold e-books intended to be read on dedicated e-reader devices. However, almost any sophisticated computer device that features a controllable viewing screen can also be used to read e-books, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

2005 Adobe InDesign 5 export : Epubs (Electronic Publications)

InDesign export options pdf, idml, later swf, xml, inx & epub. Animation capabilities added to DTP. Increased interactive pdfs for a short while and flash page turns… Back then, most browsers were unable to load these documents fast enough. Many don’t bother downloading flash player, or waiting, too frustrating, with slow internet.

Now, things are different, this is a better option for some things.

Everything has moved to the browser…creating, sharing, collaboration… ( eg. Medium…)

Lover of books

My mom loves reading. She always told me that 3 things change your life…

Reading, travel & driving

Whenever she searched for an answer she’d buy every book by every person who had an “expert” opinion on the matter. And then compare the research until she found the truth, mostly through practice and experience.

My mom has had many successful businesses. And been part of many revolutions, from Apartheid, desktop publishing, design, catering, gourmet meals, baking ( my mom really does cook better than your mom ), events, botany, photobooks, — and now she’s part of the food revolution.

After 30 years in print, she eventually decided this was no longer the route for her. But she still loves Apple & Adobe as much as she always has. Everything she’s ever learnt she still uses today, from creating her own training & marketing material etc…

Nothing learnt is ever lost

2017

Research is ingrained in our thinking. There has to always be a “better” way. That’s how we are, both my mom and I. The greatest lesson I’ve learnt from observing her life:

“There are no problems, only opportunities everywhere. You can take anything/ nothing and turn it into something”. Life lesson #2 (mom)

Back in the day, if you were a corporate and you had beautifully designed annual reports, brochures, business profiles, packaging, school albums, books, textbooks, foiled business cards, engraved signage, cheques and business forms anything printed…anything creative and well delivered…Then you probably did business with my mom.

“Necessity is the mother of invention. We needed electricity to be invented before we could invent the Mac. We didn’t know how life would change with the first Mac. But we needed the first Mac before Adobe could be invented. You may not always be able to see what we have today and it’s application for use in the future, but you can prepare through research, planning & adapting. But each new advancement in technology is a stepping stone for newer advancements to come as well as newer problems which will need fixing”. — Life lesson #3 (mom)

Once we had the software and hardware, the rise of new problems came, and thus the need for understanding human computer interaction (HCI). They all go hand in hand. You can’t expect a great digital experience with a faulty device, slow operating system and badly designed interface or a lack of wisdom when it comes to the principles or process within the various disciplines and knowing how to use the various applications.

But as those software and hardware problems were fixed over time, we no longer had to “work around” those problems and compromise on creativity. For example, once internet speed increased as well as device capabilities improved, we were then able to be more creative as far as the types of visual media produced.

Today, there is no valid reason to compromise on creativity. We have all the tools which didn’t exist back then. The only limits are cost, time …but mostly, as always, client perspectives.

From static visuals to animation to film…from 2D to 3D to AR & VR…There are no limits.

It all comes together. The greatest lesson which is consistent with what I learnt from hand work and digital is:

“Use the right tool for the desired output. Start right and save yourself and others the hassle in the future.” Life lesson #4 (mom)

My mom showed me why some tools are better than others based on what is required for final output. I learnt about formatting text using paragraph styles and glyphs from her. My mom was the person who showed me the awesomeness of recording actions for batch processing. The correct ways to import images into certain applications as well as optimising images. Editing images using levels and curves and when to use these options vs when it’s ok to just use the adjustment filters of hue and saturation. As well as almost everything cool that helped me save work correctly for hand over like packaging InDesign files and when it’s ok to save down and reduce file size. Everything my mom showed me in the design process was to ensure the best possible output when it came to final hand off or print.

When I was younger, I would leave out certain steps as I wanted to work faster. And every time I did this, I would have issues further down the line. Only then, I fully understood why my mom said to do it the right (long) way.

“The long way is actually the short way — in the long run.” (lessons learnt the hard way from not listening to mom) Life lesson #5 (mom)

My mom taught me to always check everything. Then double-check again:

“Measure twice…cut once!

…Because one mistake is never 1 mistake. If you’re printing 10 000 copies, that’s 10 000 mistakes…and if it’s a typo you were careless… spellcheck is your friend”. — Life lesson #6 (mom)

This advantage has helped me throughout the early years of print design. And throughout the various phases of my career. Because the fundamentals in the Design process, apply in practically everything. The greatest lesson I learnt is:

“Always think of the person who would have to open your files…Do it right, so it can be easy for the next person, keep layers clean, be consistent, format text, use good quality images, package, keep everything in one place”. — Life lesson #7 (mom)

Mac takes into account that everyone thinks differently. There’s so many ways to complete any task. You can choose 50 steps or 5 steps. My mom taught everyone who worked for her, to use the same process, so that if anyone isn’t available that day (because life happens), then anyone needs to be able to fix the problem. And not work in a way that causes anyone frustration if they have to edit your file.

When working in a team…work smart & work systematically, work efficiently. -Life lesson #8 (mom)

I’ve met some designers who do everything in Photoshop

I once met a designer who created a 12 page booklet in photoshop. Back when we didn’t have multiple artboards ….Just because he believe that InDesign was harder to use.

“There is no application that’s harder to use. All applications just require practice. Always use the right tool for the job”. -Life lesson #9 (mom)

There are many ways to do things in all applications, but there are also better ways to ensure it’s not a nightmare later down the line. (And yes, I learnt this from my mom as well). Today, things are different, there are so many tools out there, which have multiple capabilities. The key is to hack away at the unessential.

I believe its always best to keep in touch with all those involved in the production circle, so you know what output they require (strategically and technically).

And finally, the most important lesson:

You don’t have to be just one thing. You can excel in everything you do. Everything you do…do your best. Be curious and never stop learning. -Life lesson #10 (mom)

From the days of the first computer and first software. From having one application at your disposal at a time to the millions of applications we have today…each a new tool, a new medium to master… Each opening up newer and quicker ways of creation.

Better tools = better products (if you remember the principles and create a better process )

The possibilities…

endless…

No doubt, my view and attitude was inherited by mom. I am just a product of my environment as much as I never wanted to believe that. But with a mom like mine, I wouldn’t choose any other upbringing.

On the whole, I am grateful, to have been influenced by one of the most adaptable, graceful, forward thinking and intelligent women I know…my mom.

Little lady with the red apron…(my mother)

This is not a full history on technology or digital transformation or of my mother. It is an abridged version of some of the tech my mom used in relation to her work. It is an overview of her personal transformation enabled through technology…But mostly through her resilience and curiosity.

← P R E V I O U S Design: Principles, Process, Products

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Design : life lessons from my mom

The original Creative Director …the first one I knew

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