Speaking of Jason Santa Maria, he just updated his website, which now looks more like mine. Except that his is still, by far, much better. It is worth pointing out that he, too, is focusing more on the written content. I like this quote regarding his redesign:
One of the biggest features this new design touts is less. Less cruft, less in the way.
And speaking of writing, it's been a while since I've written anything. Which is perfectly fine, when you're writing to an audience of none.
It's important to not only have a primary goal, but to keep it in mind. As a user experience designer, before I even touch the mouse or pick up a pen, I think about what the main goal is for the user in which I'll be designing. Before I create a video -- whether it's a year-end video, an intro video, or some other kind -- I keep the main goal in mind. The same applies to graphic design.
I can't find the exact quote, but John Lasseter has said that before they flesh out the story to a Pixar movie, they would always try to encapsulate the emotional core of the movie in one sentence. This is something they go back to again and again, to make sure they don't steer off-track. For Pixar, this "emotional core" is their primary goal. Sure, there are many other secondary and side goals, but unless they hit the primary -- this emotional core -- then in their own eyes, they have failed.
Why is a primary goal so important? It gives clarity and acute focus to a given project. Without it, we would be floating on aimlessly, without anything concrete to latch onto. By remembering and focusing on the goal, progress and creativity can form, because the proper boundaries have been identified. Therefore, as artists, designers, photographers, videographers -- anyone who has a voice and an audience -- let us strive towards the primary goal that is set before us.
With that said, I'm no JSM. I don't have the time -- nor the patience -- to do a full-on design for each article that I write. I'd like to improve on my writing abilities, but I don't want major hurdles set before me. As previously noted, I want a clutter-free -- which translates to obstacle-free -- writing experience.
Here's my setup right now. I'm using IA Writer as my main editor. Stacey is the simple CMS1 that I've set up to run my articles (as well as my portfolio). The beautiful thing about the two of them is that they both understand Markdown.2 So, I can focus on writing with IA Writer and easily sync it with Stacey -- through this process, I never have to bother about logging into a "real" CMS and wrestle with formatting. As a bonus, my file is transportable and easy to read, with very minimal HTML markup. No, seriously -- take a look at this article in its basic markup.
There are, notably, drawbacks in using this workflow. However, after trying many different CMSes in the past, I'm going to stick with this one in the meantime. It is, after all, a clutter-free writing experience.3
Even in the middle of a decent article, you're often bombarded with ads.1 I was on Gizmodo today, reading up on the keynote to the new Mac OS X Lion, and I can't believe all the things that vie for your attention. And they're not all ads -- they're just random links sprinkled throughout the live update -- but the feeling remains the same: clutter.
The writing experience is no better. Regardless of which platform one chooses to write in, there's no shortage of UI clutter.2 The intention is good, of course -- the idea is to help the user get his job done, which is, to write. But so often, I find myself getting distracted -- I would type up a few sentences, then go back and bold/italicize/hyperlink words here and there, etc. I find myself not finishing as quickly as I would like to, least of all to say, there is no joy in this writing experience.
In a future article, I might expound a bit more about the writing experience -- how I plan to solve (or go around) that particular clutterfest. But, for now, at least I can offer a solution to the reading experience. With this site, I will offer my best in providing the best reading experience. Minimalistic design. Zero ads. No unnecessary superlatives and adjectives. No clutter.