Web Design, Photoshop, and talent...Ship It!

Man, I tell ya...The past few months I have had the honor to work closer than ever with a true, unbelieveably talented designer.  When I took ownership of the IIS.NET project (not from someone, but instead from ground zero) the first thing I started doing was trying to take the www.asp.net design and apply to the eventual, newly published www.iis.net.  After a few key meetings (imagine the feedback), we were able to squander out a few $$$'s to make an attempt at a new design.  My perspective, or better yet designer "view", was different then (circa March '06) than today as we have a cool, new design in place that offers a unique identity from any other site out there.  In short, I lost through other deliverables the understanding of what a very awesome, and excellent designer can bring to a project.

Beyond the plethoria of accolades I am throwing out in the first paragraph, I further obtained respect for those countless number of people who have that artistic abiility to make things seem easy, visually appealing, and overall simple.  In the world of visual design applications, the gladiator is Photoshop, while some newbies to the world are our (Microsoft) Expression series.  BillS, our PUM and at the time my boss and dictator (in a good way), decided it was time for me to learn a few visual skills that led to my acquiring this gladiator of a product.  It is now, at this moment, I admit that architecting, building, and deploying Enterprise servers are so much more appealing and easy compared to understanding the layers (no pun attended) of complexity that is Photoshop.  After using this tool, I gained a soft respect for WYSIWYG web authoring tools that offer some strong graphical support.

The point:  Web design is much more complex than it was when I entered the Microsoft world.  We have buzzwords like CSS, XHTML, RSS, WIKI, and so much more in what folks are calling Web 2.0.  If this is Web 2.0, I have to admit that I must have missed Web 1.0 because the development lines of the web sure seem to be blurred with Web 2.0.  ChrisAd missed that art class for whatever reason...um, girls?  Nah...

However, there is absolutely no doubt that I do have an eye for what things are cool.  During the design review phase of IIS.NET v1, I had the most fun trying to find flaws from so many "comps" that often it seemed like I was just being nit-picky in order to avoid not saying anything.  Bill Staples, on the other hand, has a artstitic eye and had much more feedback so as is usual I just tried to stay "involved."  I loved IIS.NET's v1 design and many slight pieces of feedback I gave made it into the final design, though had I had the vote (with no veto capability) I would have had a few additional graphics on our site because they just absolutely rocked!

Because of this, I thought I would share some of these "tough" decisions we had to make when our talented designer laid them on the "table" and said choose -

For the cool, not to be messed with, slick IIS7 lover.  Wimpy Web servers need not apply.

Windows Vista & Developers....Move up, not down!

Did you say "managed" code in the IIS pipeline?  Welcome to IIS7...

Murray, 12 years old (84 in dog years) and stubborn, just can't buy a clue...he says "You say IIS7 is different from 6.0?"  Prove It!icrosoft is prohibited.  For additional information, please c

It takes skills, imagination, and true dedication to find the love that comes from the designer of these photos.  I wish my Photoshop skills were up to the task, but they are not.  In fact, I am just focusing on how to do drop shadows...watch out designers - here I come (no, really - kidding!)  I would love to here what you think and vote on what you think is the coolest photo of all.  Comment...

Thanks,

~Chris