How To Get Your Designer To Love Expression Blend

The New Iteration: Designer/Developer Workflow With Expression Blend
KarstenJanuszewski

How To Train a Designer To Use Blend

Assumption:Design matters

Assumption:Better designmakesbetter software

Assumption:You can’t design(I know I can’t)

Thesis:Better designer/developer workflow makesbetter software

Thesis:When developers/designerscan collaborate they make better software

Thesis:When a designer knows Expression Blend, you have to do less work

The Problem:How do I get my designer to use Expression Blend?

How do I know this?

Tim Aidlin

The New Iteration

Steps to Success:1. Lure Them In2. Set Them Up For Success 3. Empower & Flatter Them4. Give Them SketchFlow

Step 1: Lure Them In

private Lure GetLure(Designer d){if (!d.IsWindows7)throw new Exception();Lure l = null;if (d.Type == artist) l = “Photoshop Import”;if (d.Type == interactive) l = “behaviors”; return l;}

Photoshop/Illustrator Import
Layers. Expression Blend preserves layer names, importing the layers as individual objects and layout containers
Text. When you are importing Photoshop files, text can be imported as editable text objects or as flat bitmap images.
Vectors. Vector art can be imported as editable path objects. Photoshop files can also be imported as images.
Blend Modes. When you are importing Photoshop files, layers that contain blend modes can be merged.
Gradients. Linear and radial gradients remain editable after they are imported. Color stops are imported as gradient brushes. Opacity stops imported as gradient brushes to the OpacityMask property.
Patterns. Patterns are imported as image brushes.

Demo:Photoshop/IllustratorImport

Behaviors
Add interactivity without writing code
Entirely XAML based
Behaviors community on http://expression.microsoft.com
Behaviors on Codeplex:http://expressionblend.codeplex.com

Demo:Behaviors

Download Beehive Project and Tutorial Videossearch: beehive expression

Step 2: Set Them Up For Success

Read The New Iteration
Teach them source control
Set up project structure in advance
Data first!

Step 3: Empower and Flatter Them

Don’t be afraid of the XAML generated by Blend
Let go of ownership of the UI
Give them lots of compliments
Work together!

Demo:Flotzam

The big payoff…

Step 4: Give Them SketchFlow

SketchFlowA prototyping tool for skilled Blend designers

Demo:SketchFlow

Live The Dream!

Thank you!karstenj@microsoft.comhttp://visitmix.com http://rhizohm.net@irhetoric

How To Get Your Designer To Love Expression Blend

by Karsten Januszewski on Nov 09, 2009

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How To Get Your Designer To Love Expression Blend — Presentation Transcript

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