This document discusses the differences between good and great designers. It suggests that good designers focus on aesthetics and decoration, while great designers focus on communication, problem prevention through intuitive design, and treating text as part of the user interface. The document also discusses the differences between artists, designers, and "hacks," suggesting designers should focus on solving user problems over personal artistic expression. Finally, it prompts the reader to honestly evaluate what category they fall into and encourages questions.

1. CAT TECH-TALK
Mahmoud metwally
www.mahmoudmetwally.com

2. What we will talk about
Join CAT.
Artist, Designer, or Hack?!
Good Designers VS Great Designers.
Be Honest With Yourself

3. WHY CAT !!!!

4. JOIN CAT!!!!
• Join CAT groups
 http://groups.google.com/group/catreloaded-
juniors
 http://groups.google.com/group/catreloaded-
team
• Visit our site
 http://www.catreloaded.net

5. Artist, Designer, or Hack?!
• The artist is the individual who loves to get
caught up in their work.
• The problem with artists is that they have no
concern of the user.
• To create beautiful things simply for the sake
of beauty is not the path to success.

6. Artist, Designer, or Hack?!
• The designer understands that he is there to do one
thing and that is to solve problems.
• You might spend 240 hours building a website only to
watch users spend the five minutes needed on it and
leave.
• People tend to think that designers like to create
beautiful things (the artist), but they really want to
create beautiful solutions. These people are very
rare.

7. Artist, Designer, or Hack?!
• There is a difference between knowing something
and doing something. I know design, but applying it
is another story.
• Usually hacks spend more time trying to be artists
than designers.
• Hacks look at a design and worry more about how a
visual effect was done over why it was done.

9. The Differences Between Good Designers and
Great Designers
• Good Designers • Great Designers
 Decorate  Communicate
 “Less” is more  “Less” and “more” co-exist
 Fix problems  Prevent
 Inspired by genre  Inspired by total environment
 Treat text as content  Treat text as UI
 Use good typefaces  Use good typography
 Redesign  Realign

10. The Differences Between Good Designers and
Great Designers
• “Less” and “more” co-exist
 The difference is some designers like to add a ton of
widgets all over the place and justify each and every
one to the point that they miss the big picture and end
up with a cluttered and confusing interface. Striking
that perfect balance will always be one of the
designer’s toughest jobs.

11. The Differences Between Good Designers and
Great Designers
• Prevent problems
 Great designers have an ability to attain the right
solution more times than not, while Good designers
continuously scramble to fix the problems that they
have created.
 Finding the solution that prevents future problems
from happening is the ideal choice

12. The Differences Between Good Designers and
Great Designers
• Inspired by total environment
 Some designers only take their inspiration from other
websites versus those that take inspiration from
everything they can get their hands on.
 I’ve been inspired by street signs, billboards, album
covers, coloring books, fashion and food. Find
inspiration in your everyday life.

13. The Differences Between Good Designers and
Great Designers
• Treat text as UI
 Copywriting is interface design. Great interfaces are
written. ]Jason Friend[
 STOP looking at text simply as content to fill a page.
Think of the different ways it can be formatted to
produce a visually appealing UI that offers a better user
experience.

14. The Differences Between Good Designers and
Great Designers
• Use good typography
 TYPOGRAPHY is the art and technique of arranging
type, type design, and modifying type glyphs. Type
glyphs are created and modified using a variety of
illustration techniques.

15. The Differences Between Good Designers and
Great Designers
• Realign
 The desire to redesign is aesthetic-driven, while the
desire to realign is purpose-driven.

16. Be Honest With Yourself
• Which category do you put yourself under?
• Some people have a right to say they are trained and have
years of experience in the field so you should let them do
their job, while others just don’t.
• Nice to be a designer, getting paid to do what you love and
then having someone say they don’t like what you have
produced.

17. Any Questions or Suggestions!!!

18. THANKS EVERYBODY

19. /CAT TECH-TALK
Next session /DIV
CAT SCOPE Eleven