The love of making things need not be confined to the physical world - electronic form giving is an equal hands-on experience. My talk is investigation of the possibility of craft in the digital realm. There is a growing correspondence between digital work and traditional craft. Anyone who gives form with software, whether in web design, architecture, motion graphics or modeling, is practicing personal knowledge and producing visual artifacts that, although not material, are nevertheless products of the hands, eyes and mind. The talk stars with an introduction to my current role at The Group, thoughts on the Bauhaus movement (and their understanding of craft & technology) and concludes with interviews by various digital crafts people. Design Designen was created for the 6. Typotage in Munich which took place on 21. July 2009. Note that the talk contains slides in German and English.

3. 1997 HFK Bremen, Grafik Design 1996 Ravensbourne College of Design, UK Interaction Design 1998 Artificial Environments 2004 The Group, Design Director 2009 MSc Human Centred Systems

5. The Group is an interactive communication agency We design, build, host and manage corporate and marketing web sites, extranets and online reports, and advise on all aspects of online communication

6. By creating authentic, compelling and useful brand experiences online – we connect organisations with people who matter to them Everyone from investors and journalists to employees, job-seekers, customers and local communities

7. Clients Beratung Full service – Design, Entwicklung, Hosting und Datenpflege Corporate Webseite | Geschäftsberichte | Web analyse & Beratung

8. Our services Day-to-day client contact, manages annual strategic programme Site concepts, design & identity, content and strategy Measurement, review and ongoing development Hosting, programming & technical services

9. Us

10. The Group Organisches Wachstum Keine Agentur nach Bauplan Jobs und Rollen sind veränderbar und flexibel

11. Growing – % change

12. Interdisziplin ‘ The school will gradually turn into a workshop’ Walter Gropius

13. The building of the future (Gropius) Combine all the arts in ideal unity + Strategy + Information Architecture + Visual Design + Development + Web metrics + Online Consulting

14. Creativity is just connecting things When you ask a creative person how they did something, they may feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something.” Steve Jobs

15. Cross-functional teams Strategy + animation + databases + copy + architecture + video + colours + coding Cross-functional teams where experience and inquisitiveness and trust lead to new connections

16. By our hands we live The Group, East End, London

17. Walter Gropius – The base for any art is found in handcraft ‘the school will gradually turn into a workshop’ Artists and craftsmen directed classes and production together at the Bauhaus in Weimar Remove any distinction between fine arts and applied arts

20. Digital craft Damals: Prototyp – Massenproduktion Heute: Prototyp – Massenproduktion Prototyp ist nicht mehr absolut, sondern ver änderbar Benutzer reproduzieren und rekonfigurieren unsere Arbeit

21. SABMiller.com – Your page

22. SABMiller.com – Your page

23. SABMiller.com – Your page

24. Provident Financial – Financial table

25. Provident Financial – Financial table

26. Provident Financial – Financial table

27. Digital craft Veränderbarkeit muss miteingebunden sein in unser Design Designer gestalten einen Prozess, das Design des Designens Wir designen Design!

28. Digital craft Interviews, Testing und Web metrics geben Aufschluss über Benutzer Wir designen Systeme, die robust und erweiterbar sein m üssen Ständige Evolution von Design Designprozess ist iterativ

29. Digital craft Wir liefern Daten. Die Produktion, das ‘Material’, werden nach wie vor delegiert Technologie ist ein Designmaterial

30. Digital craft Technologie ist zug änglicher, leichter lernbar und verwendbar geworden Seagram Building, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe , 1954-58

32. Die Kenntnis der Zeit, ihrer Aufgaben und Mittel, sind notwendige Vorraussetzungen bauk ün s tlerischen Schaffens. Mies van der Rohe Die Kenntnis von Umwelt, Benutzern und Technologien , sind notwendige Vorraussetzungen guten Designs.

33. Centrica Gesch äftsbericht 08 – PDF

34. Centrica Gesch äftsbericht 08 – web

35. Centrica Gesch äftsbericht 08 – web

36. Centrica Gesch äftsbericht 08 – web

37. Centrica Gesch äftsbericht 08 – web

38. Centrica Gesch äftsbericht 08 – PDF

39. Centrica Geschäftsbericht 2008 – PDF

40. Centrica Geschäftsbericht – online

41. Centrica Geschäftsbericht – online

42. Digital craft Qualität • objektiv / strukturell • visuell • technisch • emotional • Benutzbarkeit ‘quality-in-use’ My job

43. Digital craft Schlecht: unbenutzbar, unverständlich Gut: schnell lernbar, aesthetisch, flow, standards

44. Quality-in-use Verständnis und Benutzbarkeit Studie: An investigation of viewing patterns on the web Sehmuster im Internet

45. Quality-in-use – Nielsen / F-Muster (2006) Drei ‘heatmaps’ aus Nielsens Studie (2006): (1) ‘About us’ seite, (2) Produktseite (e-commerce site), und (3) Liste von Sucherergebissen (Google) ‘ Users read web pages in an F-shape pattern ’ Nielsen, 2006

46. Quality-in-use – Sehmuster: Verständnis

47. Quality-in-use – Sehmuster: Suche

48. Quality-in-use – Kollektive Suchpfade

49. Conclusions 1 Viewing behaviour is affected by: - the visual layout of a site (Layout) - a user ’s task (Aufgabe) Common viewing patterns on the web are rather unlikely

50. Conclusions 2 Sensemaking clue: body of text Seen early: menu, the description and the page title (both layouts) Sensemaking is a relatively individual activity, exploratory in nature and easily affected by a disorganised layout

51. Conclusions 3 Page fold is no longer an obstacle in viewing a website if users are looking for useful clues Sensemaking behaviour does not result in an F-shape viewing pattern, but is influenced by the structure of the visual layout

52. Die Kenntnis der Zeit, ihrer Aufgaben und Mittel, sind notwendige Vorraussetzungen bauk ün s tlerischen Schaffens. Mies van der Rohe Die Kenntnis von Umwelt, Benutzern und Technologien, sind notwendige Vorraussetzungen guten Designs.

54. Touch screen Aktuelle Krankentransporte Patienteninformation Daten übertragung in Echtzeit CATS

55. CATS

56. CATS

57. CATS

58. CATS

59. CATS

60. CATS

61. CATS

62. CATS

63. Gestaltet die Form aus dem Wesen der Aufgabe mit den Mitteln unserer Zeit. Das ist unsere Arbeit. Mies van der Rohe, Manifesto

65. I consider myself a technician, not a writer Using different techniques online and offline I solve problems Rules – there are rules you need to follow Your copy needs to be understood quickly and effectively Frank, Content Strategist

66. Martina, Senior Content Strategist It’s got something to do with e mpathy a nd collaboration. It ’s not about the writer, it ’s about what works for the site and the people who use it. You have to be transparent. Y ou're looking to craft something that both communicates effectively in itself and that integrates seamlessly with design and IA to create a satisfying user experience.

67. Six Steps – Finanzplanung für alle

68. Six Steps – Schreibstil Richtlinien für Schreibstil: • direkt • informativ, informell • glaubwürdig • auf Augenhöhe • ohne Bevormundung

69. Trevor, Senior Information Architect Craft = Hidden Timing = Craft On the surface there is no craft. We’re looking for an easy solution on the outside even if the thought process is complex. Everything has to happen quickly and simply for a user. Users need to go the simplest way to get a task done.

70. Jenelle, Information Architect Craft = Elegance Big picture + Detail Working within constraints of existing technologies, time and budget The ultimate goal is to unite the visual and the functional – they have to gel. Then you arrive at an elegant solution. Good craft is about completeness, the bigger picture view and the level of detail.

71. J Sainsbury CR Report 09

73. Design needs to work subconsciously, almost invisibly. You don't want users to think about it too much, but let them experience the brand. Good craft is a well structured and easy to use visual design. Ewa, Interaction Designer It's like the Theatre, you don't notice the stuff that goes on behind the scenes.

74. Provident Financial

75. Provident Financial

76. Provident Financial

77. Provident Financial

78. Provident Financial

79. Provident Financial

80. Good craft takes time. We don’t have time. An early prototype often needs refining over and over again. It's very tedious. In print you can tinker more. Good craft can get lost in the process – budgets are tight and we have to work faster than ever. John, Art Director

81. Also there are limitations in our craft – available fonts for example, or accurate character spacing in CSS John, Art Director

82. John, Art Director

83. John, Art Director

84. SABMiller.com – Studien/Illustration

85. SABMiller.com – Animation

86. SABMiller.com – Farben

87. SABMiller.com – Farben

88. Farina, Design Production Manager Good craft: fitting lots of text into a small space Fiddling around with kerning, leading, widows and orphans Its about the finishing touches

89. Accuracy, accuracy, accuracy

90. J Sainsbury – Responsibility report 09

91. Craft = finding trends in the data, communicating that to a client clearly Making effective suggestions of what should be changed on their site Bad craft = inaccuracy, or lack of clarity and also taking data at face value, not digging deeper into data Stephen, Sarah Web Analysts

92. Our work is very complex – different specialism are needed, multiple crafts. Also people have different talents Programming craft is very specific: translating a 2D design into written language (code) which then translates into a dynamic and time-based interactive work on the web The tools of our craft are very different from the final outcome, unlike with traditional painting Tamas, Technical Director

93. Text editing in HTML feels craft like, rather than using a WYSYWG editor. I guess there are layers of craft. Phil, Developer, friend

94. The difference between making a chair and the front end of a web site – the chair lets you see the welding, on the web site you have to look at the source code to see if it was done nicely. Some code can be ropey, even though the site looks lovely. Phil, Developer, friend Quality code has a robustness to it.

95. Cathal Smyth Strategy Director Craft = searching for the truth of a brand We never find it but we get closer each time We then try to create an interactive experience that authentically conveys the nature of the brand through the connected layers of content, technology and design

98. SABMiller – Marken Statement

99. SABMiller.com – Berichte

100. SABMiller.com – Raster

101. SABMiller.com – Designelemente

102. SABMiller.com

103. SABMiller.com – Your page

104. SABMiller.com / Über Uns

105. SABMiller.com – Geschichten

106. SABMiller.com – Weltweit

107. SABMiller.com – Markenprofil

108. SABMiller.com – Markenprofil

109. SABMiller.com – Länderprofil

110. Gestaltet die Form aus dem Wesen der Aufgabe mit den Mitteln unserer Zeit. Das ist unsere Arbeit. Mies van der Rohe, Manifesto