[consulting] How do you find Drupal graphics designers?

Tue Nov 2 00:44:21 UTC 2010

I'll be honest, I've worked with Drupal for over 5 years now and I've never 
figured out why anyone bothers with hi-fi HTML mockups anymore.  I know there 
are places that do, but the actual HTML that Drupal spits out is so incredibly 
different than what you'd get if you're "designing" your HTML that I don't see 
what value it adds.  And the effort involved to change and strip down the HTML 
to be just what you want is non-small, and removes a ton of Drupal's 
flexibility.  (The design is more likely to break if you reconfigure a node 
type or tweak a View, for instance.)

I know there are people that swear by it, and I used to do a lot more HTML 
myself, but my company hasn't done hi-fi HTML mockups in years and it's been a 
huge time saver for us.  Let Drupal give us the HTML it wants, and then CSS it 
into whatever we need, adjusting HTML only where necessary.

--Larry Garfield

On Monday, November 01, 2010 12:36:56 pm Josh wrote:
> As a classically trained print graphic designer who has been working with
> HTML and CSS since 2001, I can tell you that the gap does exist. With the
> advent of HTML 5, the canvas object, and a huge amount of widely available
> fonts, the gap is closing fast.
> 
> Good news: Any great web designer can work with *most* Content Management
> Systems. Nearly all of my sites go through a static page design phase were
> we take the approved PSD and turn it into an HTML mockup with CSS files and
> Javascript. This is rigorously tested on all major browsers. This static
> design can be created by anyone with a flare for design and CSS.
> 
> The next step can be tricky, turning static designs into functional
> websites (not just functional themes) takes a pretty savvy Drupal website
> builder. For example, making a static jQuery rotator on a homepage is
> pretty easy, but in Drupal you need to think through the Content Types,
> the View, and ultimately, how the block gets created and if there are any
> arguments that need to be considered. And once this homepage rotator is
> built, tweaking the CSS to deal with the html that is output. (Though, the
> Semantic
> Views<http://drupal.org/project/semanticviews>module can help with
> this tremendously).
> 
> Shop around the big Drupal shops (any company that regularly posts to
> the Drupal
> Planet <http://drupal.org/planet>) and you'll find someone who will give
> you the time of day and a decent estimate. If you are budget conscience or
> simply want a custom theme, try the good folks at TopNotchThemes...
> 
> http://www.topnotchthemes.com/form/custom-drupal-design-theming
> 
> <http://www.topnotchthemes.com/form/custom-drupal-design-theming>Josh
> 
> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 12:37 PM, larry at garfieldtech.com <
> 
> larry at garfieldtech.com> wrote:
> > At the risk of pissing off designers on this list, I'd look for someone
> > whose resume doesn't include much print work.  Print design and web
> > design are very different animals.  It's *really* hard to be good in
> > both, but a lot of print designers think that because they are
> > (legitimately) good print designers it makes them good web designers.
> > That's no more true than me being a good PHP developer means that I
> > could be a first-rate Erlang or ML programmer my first time out.  I've
> > known some really good print designers and really good web designers,
> > but the overlap I've seen between the two is small.
> > 
> > Also, look for someone that bills themselves as an interaction designer
> > rather than graphic artist.  They're more likely to "get" the web if
> > they think in terms of interaction and workflow rather than "art".
> > 
> > *Dons flame retardant suit before the print artists find him.*
> > 
> > --Larry Garfield
> > 
> > On 11/1/10 10:46 AM, Don wrote:
> > > Too funny. Yes, I get designers that want to change the layout of each
> > 
> > page.
> > 
> > > I'm a good themer, it's bringing together an ensemble of items to make
> > > a theme that I'm oblivious to.
> > > 
> > > -Don-
> > > 
> > > On 11/1/2010 11:22 AM, Matt Chapman wrote:
> > >> Find people who have contributed themes that don't suck. Also, broaden
> > >> your search outside the Drupal community. From the design side, CMS is
> > >> CMS. Look at actual sites, not just portfolio screenshots. Hire
> > >> someone who has their own blog that they designed, so you know they
> > >> actually use a CMS regularly.
> > >> 
> > >> But practically, I face the same challenge. It seems tome that a lot
> > >> of designers still think it's 1995 in terms of user / administrator
> > >> experience, as if the site is only going to change a few timers a
> > >> year.
> > >> 
> > >> I recently had to answer a PM at a design agency with "If you want it
> > >> to look /exactly/ like the mock-up, then you can only use Lorem Ipsum
> > >> text..." He got it, but I'm not sure the designer ever did... The text
> > >> in question was from a social network feed that updated hourly.
> > >> 
> > >> All the Best,
> > >> 
> > >> Matt
> > >> 
> > >> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 7:59 AM, Don<donald at fane.com>   wrote:
> > >>> I have a friend looking for a Drupal aware graphics designer. Finding
> > >>> someone that's aware of how a CMS works, is a good designer and is
> > >>> reliable is something that's always escaped me. Branding and impact
> > >>> as well as user interfacing are important as well.
> > >>> Any recommendations? Feel free to email me directly.
> > >>> 
> > >>> -Don-
> > >>> donald at fane.com
> > >>> 
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