My home office setup

In the picture you can see my 19″ Samsung SyncMaster B1930, a Toshiba Satellite L755 with 6Gb Ram and 360 Gb of disk space, my 500Gb Iomega external disk, a NGS wireless mouse and keyboard and my London User Research Center sketching notepad. And this covers for me as far as hardware goes.

Working at home can be tricky, there are an almost infinite amount of things that can distract you but the comfort and relaxing environment is something that I’m sure anyone can appreciate.

Music

It’s crucial for me to have an endless stream of beats going on. I don’t pay much attention to it but I need a beat to set pace for me. Usually I use Grooveshark, Stereo Mood or The Hype Machine.

Organization

Google Calendar is a great help to get me organized. I’ve tried Action Method and Podio for project management but it’s just too much for what I need. Other than Google Calendar I keep a sheet of paper next to me where I write down all the daily tasks.

Communication

Personally I like using IMs to communicate. It allows me to talk when I am available and not when someone decides that I should be available for them. The result is increased productivity and less procrastination.

In this video Jason Fried talks about how 37 signals started, and how it growth to their current business model, how 37 signals offices work. It’s interesting understanding how 37 signals works in a very silent way in order to prevent distractions and prioritize work.

Probably the best mentality in 37 signals is their “horizontal growth” philosophy where their workers grow themself doing what they are really good at instead of being promoted and taken away from what they are really good at.

If you ever feel you can’t do something, remember Nick the limbless man that counquered the world with his faith.

Life Without Limbs

One of my challenges this year working on a new agency has been building reputation inside the agency where nobody knows my work. This has been particularly difficult since the agency only started building the online department after my arrival. From my collaboration with my colleagues, that work for the agency for some years now, I noticed that my oppinion is taken into consideration but it’s not the strongest one. I needed to built reputation.

The answer

It has not been an easy task trying to figure out how to build a reputation when work doesn’t flow that often or when my contribute is very small since most projects are in other departments. I have been brainstorming for a while now but I have found the answer when participating, again a very little contribute, on a project brainstorming when my answer resolved the design department issue on the spot and was not difficult to design or create. And so it hit me. Create a sense of efficiency.

A sense of efficciency is the feeling you get when doing a good work. And if you are able to spread that feeling to the people around you hey will not only incentivate that you participate more actively on projects but they’ll also believe that your participation will make a difference. Working efficiently means you are focus and driven to achieving results.

As a final note, during this process I tended to become a little self centered but eventually learned to look at other people”s feedback as a challenge due to their specific needs instead of thinking their point of views was the product of a concept implemented through what they consider correct in the past and eventually this made my job more interesting.

How to build online reputation

I’ll leave you with a video where Ross Dunn talks about reputation enhancement. An interesting talk on how to build reputation online. Even though Ross does not mention efficiency, Ross refers participation and engagement as key factors to building your online reputation. This is the same principle of what I have mentioned before. Share interesting point of views that are usefull or that resolve other poeple’s issues and they will start trusting you.

All this tab candy makes me think, do I need more RAM memory on my computer?

For me the key point of this talk comes between minute 11:24 and minute 13:05.

Mike’s advice is not to follow your dreams, not to pursue your passion but instead understand the world around you and do what you need to be thankful and successful at what you do and eventually happy doing it.

“Start building a network of fellow entrepreneurs that understand your passion and don’t make you feel guilty about always chasing it.”
Cameron Herold

Personally, I love the idea of raising kids to work for their money instead of just giving them money. Let’s incentive and teach them to be creative on ways to make more money instead of just getting them as an allowance. On the other hand entrepreneurs don’t really have all the advantages a normal worker has such as the obligation of full paid vacations, sick days and dental care and eventually retirement.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be an entrepreneur but I also believe that in my country there’s no solid ground for this.

I’ve love to get your point of view on this. Do you believe being an entrepreneur is suitable for your children or even for you? Or do you prefer the financial security of a company worker?

Konigi has been one of my favorite websites when it comes to IA related subjects. On top of that Konigi also sells some interesting products. The Wireframe Notepad is a paper block containing contains 50 sheets of paper (8 1/2 x 11 inches (~ 21 x 27 cm)) with grids created specifically for sketching wireframes.

The grids are drawn with a non-photo blue (cyan) ink that allow you to scan the sketches without the grid. Also the 24 columns grid system makes it compatible with CSS grid frameworks.

The biggest upset come when you want to order it. It’s only available in the US.

Cost: $9 each block (50 sheets)

Alternatives to Konigi’s wireframe notepad

• Paper Browser – A free grid system with 960px width separated by 32×32 pixel squares. The paper is proportionally scaled for 1024×768 screen resolution.

  It comes as a PDF format so you can use it for digital work or simply print it for sketching.

• Browser Sketch Pad by UI Stencils.Cost: $9.95 (each Pad comes with 50 sheets)

  Download PDF format:

  • A4 Browser Sketch Pad Template
  • Letter size Browser Sketch Pad Template

Other useful resources

• Free Printable Sketching Wireframing and note taking
• A Collection of Printable Sketch Templates and Sketch Books for Wireframing

Pencils, pens & markers

photo by pigpongm

A while ago I remember reading about Pencils, Pens & Markers Sets used for offline wireframing.
Personally I’ve been in love with a Staedtler Noris H3 pencil for years. I’ve tried other models and brands but this one is the special one for me. I also own some coloring pencils of a brand called Milan and I find them great.

Usually if you are sketching wireframes you are not supposed to use color, but when sketching with paper you might want to describe certain actions or add notes and color can help in certain concepts of your visual information.

On Wireframe Magazine post they point out the most popular brands for wireframe hand sketching are Copics, Tombow and Primacolor. Unfortunately they are also some of the most expensive.

Website Stencil Kit

Although this resource kind of goes against the main idea of this post, practice productivity by hand drawing freely, sometimes, as information architects we need to do accurate straight-line sketches.
UI Stencils has this really cool set of kits of website stencils, iPod stencils and iPad stencils for offline sketching.

The includes a stainless steel stencil with commonly used iconography and a pixel based ruler, a Zebra Mechanical pencil, 2 UI Stencil stickers and a downloadable .PDF letter or A4 paper template.
Personally I like to sketch freely although having a notion of space, especially compared to

My personal resources

Although I made this list based on what some of the most known people in IA and UX use for their work, my personal resources are a bit similar but from different brands and economically more accessible.

• A4 Ambar drawing block
• Staedtler noris H3 and B2 pencils
• Uniball UM 100. The Uni-ball eye needle UN-167 also seems interesting.

It’s a very basic stock, I’m always trying to keep expenses down. On the other hand it’s important the people you work with, co-workers and clients, get a good impression from you and your work. I was fortunate enough to get a free wireframe notepad at UX LX, courtesy of London User Research Centre, afterwards I bought a decent set of pens and pencils.

Sometimes I print Paper Browser or this wireframe template by Alfonso Bozzelli for some quick sketching. Problem is that if I draw the whose website on these templates, clients usually think this is how it will show on their screens with no scroll. A quick workaround is drawing a straight line and explain what is above and bellow the fold.

I guess I’ve covered the basis for offline wireframe sketching. There are some color and visual concepts to be considered but that will be another post

I’d love to get feedback from you. Feel free to add to this post. Leave a comment.