6 May 2009
Graphic Design: The Forgotten Web Standard
As part of my talk at the ‘Future of Web Design’ conference in London last week I played this short film. It’s basically sped up footage of me making my slides for my talk.
Why I did it
- I think it’s interesting to see the design process as it happens. Quite a lot of the footage shows me working on designs that never made the deck. Every time I design something I find it hard and I worry about the outcome. I think it’s cool to show people that ideas just don’t fall onto the canvas.
- I’ve seen this sort of thing done before and I found it inspiring. I guess I hope you find this inspiring too :)
The music
The music I used is a track called Með suð í eyrum by Sigur Ros from their album Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust. It’s an amazing record and I suggest you all go out and buy it :)
Buy it here: moourl.com/ydh2w
More info on Sigur Ros: sigurros.com

We're big fans of 


David Bonner
# May 6, 2009 - 1:34 pm
Awesome as usual Mike!
Rob
# May 6, 2009 - 1:34 pm
I enjoyed that mike, thanks for sharing. And I'll always watch a video set to sigur ros.
Tjeerd van Sas
# May 6, 2009 - 1:36 pm
Well, I find it inspiring!
Nice to see similar designs back in your work! I sure hope more people will go for such an illustrative style instead of the web two dot oh apple-site clones. Thanks you for posting!
note @ self: practice, experiment, practice, experiment…
Dennis Coughlin
# May 6, 2009 - 1:38 pm
Brilliant video Mike – I was there for FOWD and it was an inspiring talk.
Ps – Also, thanks for the free poster! : )
Nick Burd
# May 6, 2009 - 1:44 pm
beautiful
alextronic
# May 6, 2009 - 1:44 pm
This was absolutely brilliant. Congratulations. Real talent.
Andreas
# May 6, 2009 - 1:58 pm
Here's the link to that sigur ros album on spotify http://open.spotify.com/album/7cKMna4MR8xGwnuSPMA...
eric
# May 6, 2009 - 1:59 pm
Very beautiful to watch. Thanks!
Simon Pritchard
# May 6, 2009 - 8:17 pm
I would love to know how you acheived this time-lapse recording of your workflow? Did you just run a screen catpure tool such as Camtasia during all of your design time and then edit it down afterward or is there another trick to it?
Wish I could have seen the presso itself… love the retro look.
Anthony @afovea
# May 6, 2009 - 9:10 pm
I have to say that this talk was THE highlight of the conference for me, coming from print to web design myself I really enjoyed having someone talk from a likeminded point of view. I have found myself conforming to web developers requirements and restrictions and sacrificing good asthetic and design for this end. The talk was such a kick up the arse for me and left feeling almost told off for betraying my roots in print, there's not reason not to bring that beauty into the web in any way we can. Thank you, in all seriousness and most genuinely, thank you!
rich wells
# May 6, 2009 - 9:23 pm
Really inspiring slides and a great video!
The free poster from the day is now framed on my office wall
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richwells/3506899801...
rich wells
# May 6, 2009 - 9:27 pm
ah, wrong link!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richwells/3506899801...
prisca
# May 6, 2009 - 9:31 pm
Thanks, Mike — just fantastic :)
loved it at FOWD – now so happy I can share it with others ;)
And I can only repeat what Anthony wrote – a truly inspiring talk, wonderful to go straight to the design itself – your slides were just beautiful, especially seen on the huge screen. A pleasure to listen to you and see your wonderful graphics — thank you!
Paul Randall
# May 6, 2009 - 10:42 pm
A great video – a really great way of watching design evolve.
jon
# May 7, 2009 - 7:03 am
impressive. im blown away
Mike Hedge
# May 7, 2009 - 10:38 am
love it!
Ashley
# May 7, 2009 - 11:56 am
Wow – That was awesome! I love to see how other designer's brains work ;-)
Ashley
neileo
# May 7, 2009 - 12:51 pm
brilliant mate! Nice choice of music too, Sigur Ros is awseome
wish I could design that fast! lol
Tracey
# May 7, 2009 - 1:18 pm
Wow. I'm totally jealous of your talent.
Mike Kus
# May 7, 2009 - 3:27 pm
Hey,
thanks for all the comments guys… Much appreciated :)
Simon – I recorded my screen with a little bit of software called 'iShowU' nice and easy to use.
Jason
# May 7, 2009 - 3:48 pm
Cheers! Very well done!
Jonathan Wagener
# May 7, 2009 - 7:28 pm
really great, i love it.
Sean
# May 7, 2009 - 8:03 pm
this is really cool. like….REALLY cool.
justin hileman
# May 8, 2009 - 12:40 am
That's gorgeous. Than you for sharing.
Oyunlar
# May 8, 2009 - 12:55 am
brilliant mate! Nice choice of music too, Sigur Ros is awseome
wish I could design that fast! lol
ask siirleri
# May 8, 2009 - 2:54 am
I enjoyed that mike, thanks for sharing. And I'll always watch a video set to sigur ros.
Nix
# May 8, 2009 - 7:14 am
Mike, I guess this is the 28th comment and quite possibly the first critical one of this whole post. I guess the initial critique I have is the fact that I was part of your FOWD 2008 audience in NYC where your workshop attempted to show "Professional Photoshop" techniques and was simple instructions on taking digital pictures that could be turned into textures. The technical difficulties didn't bother me at first, it was the simplicity of it as I watched several other audience members walk out of your extremely basic session….
Then Ryan Carson introduced you to the whole crowd for the beautiful illustration you did for the footer of the FOWA site. It was nice indeed, but again, it was just a footer.
But now, I have to stand up for the actual graphic designers out there who have been trained and are weathered typographers and layout experts when you title this post "Graphic Design: The Forgotten Web Standard." Your video clip was dramatic, but by cutting up your process and adding Sigur Ros, in my opinion, is simply not enough to prove your worth. I find it disappointing that it took 27 people to point this out and if anything, I find it proof that the skill of professional graphic design has been turned into an immediately available power that people barely educated can not only succeed at it but become an "author" on it.
Your video quickly spells out "break conventions" but I see none of this. You use typical typefaces, the movement is cliché, the layouts are almost ALL CENTERED…
Having seen you speak, you explain your work both live and online, I encourage you to study the grid, the history book of Meggs, the design of No Pattern, Design Republic, Clinton Clark, Electric Heat, Dreamers Ink Aesthetics, and don't just use "Carsonified" as your tag for being an author on design; I simply don't see great design here. I see good mediocrity.
james
# May 8, 2009 - 2:21 pm
nice one! really cool vid
ncc
# May 8, 2009 - 3:30 pm
OMG – Mike's slides are ALL CENTERED? You're shitting me.
mustafa
# May 8, 2009 - 6:00 pm
I have to say that this talk was THE highlight of the conference for me, coming from print to web design myself I really enjoyed having someone talk from a likeminded point of view. I have found myself conforming to web developers requirements and restrictions and sacrificing good
duslersesli
# May 8, 2009 - 6:03 pm
Than you for sharing
köpekler
# May 8, 2009 - 6:48 pm
thanks
siir
# May 8, 2009 - 7:06 pm
Wow – That was awesome! I love to see how other designer's brains work ;-)
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# May 8, 2009 - 7:40 pm
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# May 8, 2009 - 7:41 pm
Thanks http://www.dizilerle.com
Nix
# May 8, 2009 - 8:07 pm
Mr. Carson, thanks for responding. I actually found FOWD NYC very valuable and heard some great speakers. On another note, isn't the point of Web 2.0 to let people critique and discuss, without the owner of the site interjecting in such a loud way? I understand you're defending Mike and you probably should, but to throw back "your site also sucks" is just kind of silly. I'm not going to even defend my work in this realm because I think it speaks for itself and this post is about Mike's reel.
Have a good weekend though
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# May 9, 2009 - 7:38 am
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emo nickleri
# May 9, 2009 - 7:43 am
thanks for all the comments guys… Much appreciated
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# May 9, 2009 - 9:39 am
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Lee Norman
# May 9, 2009 - 10:13 am
Hi,
Such an awesome video…. Nice graphic work with photoshop over there…. Certainly Graphic Design is the forgotten web standard … Thanks a lot for such a brilliant video… :)
Müzik Dinle
# May 9, 2009 - 10:14 am
Very good news video, I love you graphic design ;)
IanVicious
# May 9, 2009 - 10:03 pm
I did find that inspiring.
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alem
# May 10, 2009 - 6:16 pm
thankssss
VoIP
# May 11, 2009 - 6:45 am
This was absolutely brilliant. Congratulations…!!!
jhon
# May 11, 2009 - 1:50 pm
Very beautiful . Thanks! …
Shawn
# May 11, 2009 - 8:38 pm
It's interesting to see things evilve on the Web. Dreamweaver is almost outdated, can you believe it? It jsut amazes me to no end.
refinance
Ana
# May 13, 2009 - 1:35 am
Nice take love it…I was more inspired to work on my design!
ecommerce solution
# May 13, 2009 - 7:34 am
Thanks for sharing Mike. Its very nice and inspiring video.
mattyk
# May 14, 2009 - 3:02 pm
That was amazing – thanks.
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# May 15, 2009 - 2:46 pm
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detruk
# May 17, 2009 - 4:28 pm
Ouch !
I love the graphic style of the work shown in this video.
You didn't answer when someone (don't remember the name sorry…) ask you if it was a mixed video (cut) or not ? If it isn't a mixed video it's very very impressive, you've got a great creativity ! Very talentuous. Congrats
Sorry for my bad english language I'm french. :/
alex
# May 18, 2009 - 7:52 am
great video love it can we see more of this kind of video?
AREA 1
# May 18, 2009 - 2:00 pm
Excellent video ! Great job !
Matt
# May 22, 2009 - 10:24 pm
Loved that!
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# May 22, 2009 - 4:38 pm
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# June 10, 2009 - 9:30 am
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Carsonified » Graphic Design: The Forgotten Web Standard
# July 14, 2009 - 6:41 am
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Rafael Minero
# August 25, 2009 - 9:44 pm
¡Fantastic! This really makes me want to make stuff.
Thanks
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# January 10, 2010 - 11:54 pm
is a love of graphic design, art.
Thanks for the article …
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# January 15, 2010 - 6:42 am
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# January 15, 2010 - 6:43 am
thought it was a nice execution and didn’t realize there should be a critique(troll) of this magnitude.
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# January 15, 2010 - 6:45 am
thought it was a nice execution and didn’t realize there should be a critique(troll) of this magnitude.
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# January 15, 2010 - 6:48 am
thank you I’m sorry you felt the workshop in NYC wasn’t valuable for you. Unfortunately it’s impossible for us to pitch the level exactly right for everyone at the workshop.
Banksy
# May 8, 2009 - 3:27 pm
Hey, Nix, well just point us to your talk on graphic design and we'll give your thoughts some consideration – oh mighty one.
Ryan Carson
# May 8, 2009 - 3:49 pm
I'm sorry you felt the workshop in NYC wasn't valuable for you. Unfortunately it's impossible for us to pitch the level exactly right for everyone at the workshop.
Having said that, your comment comes across as completely arrogant and it makes you look very jealous of Mike's stage time. It makes it hard to take you seriously at all.
I'd also disagree strongly with you that you need to have studied agencies like Design Republic (who were brilliant originally, but proved they were incapable of adapting and have now gone out of business).
Maybe you should show us why you have the right to call yourself an "actual graphic designer" and judge Mike so harshly?
I know this is blunt, but I guess there's no other way to say it:
Both ojonegro.com and michaelnixdesign.com are very mediocre (to use your own term).
Maybe you should consider the quality of your own work before you trash someone else?
Jason
# May 17, 2009 - 6:17 pm
I thought it was a nice execution and didn't realize there should be a critique(troll) of this magnitude.
I agree with Ryan.
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