Canadian Magazine Industry News
12 March 2012, TORONTO
Creative industry veteran says 'responsive design' is way of future
A self-professed print lover is admitting defeat. Sort of.
Jeremy Linskill, design director of Zync in Toronto, said he has been designing for 14 years with a foundation in print. But like many others in the creative industry, he sees a stronger future in electronic media. "It is our job to stay ahead of the curve," he said.
It's all about learning and adapting to remain successful, he told design students during the RGD Ontario HeadStart Career Development Conference at the Toronto Reference Library on Saturday.
"Really question things when you move online," he said of web design. "It doesn't have to be [designed] the way it was for print. And that's why it's exciting."
He offered some interesting revelations about the future during his The World is Going Mobile talk. He predicts by next year, mobile smartphone use will overtake desktop computer use for web surfing, adding, "people who can't afford desktop computers and laptops can afford mobile."
To reinforce his point about the rising popularity of mobile, he said currently more than 35 percent of smartphone users check their devices before getting out of bed, while 80 percent multitask with their phones while watching TV.
The future will call for more responsive design, which is the automatic formatting of web content depending on the device accessing it. "The interface makes or breaks a site," said Linskill. "I think websites should become simpler. Simplicity is when someone thinks about the details."
Responsive design is the answer to keeping up with multiple platforms such as Android and Blackberry, he added, noting the Zync website itself is an example of one that uses responsive design. "It allows designers to stop choosing platforms and browsers, and focus on features and content."
Barry Quinn, founding partner of creative firm Juniper Park in Toronto, later added on this point during the conference, noting design is becoming "increasingly liquid" across multiple mediums. "You're not designing a thing, you're designing the idea of a thing," he said to those on hand. "It's killing print designers. They just can't give up that control."
This content was originally published on Masthead sister site, Design Edge Canada.
Jeremy Linskill, design director of Zync in Toronto, said he has been designing for 14 years with a foundation in print. But like many others in the creative industry, he sees a stronger future in electronic media. "It is our job to stay ahead of the curve," he said.
It's all about learning and adapting to remain successful, he told design students during the RGD Ontario HeadStart Career Development Conference at the Toronto Reference Library on Saturday.
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Jeremy Linskill of Zync
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"Really question things when you move online," he said of web design. "It doesn't have to be [designed] the way it was for print. And that's why it's exciting."
He offered some interesting revelations about the future during his The World is Going Mobile talk. He predicts by next year, mobile smartphone use will overtake desktop computer use for web surfing, adding, "people who can't afford desktop computers and laptops can afford mobile."
To reinforce his point about the rising popularity of mobile, he said currently more than 35 percent of smartphone users check their devices before getting out of bed, while 80 percent multitask with their phones while watching TV.
The future will call for more responsive design, which is the automatic formatting of web content depending on the device accessing it. "The interface makes or breaks a site," said Linskill. "I think websites should become simpler. Simplicity is when someone thinks about the details."
Responsive design is the answer to keeping up with multiple platforms such as Android and Blackberry, he added, noting the Zync website itself is an example of one that uses responsive design. "It allows designers to stop choosing platforms and browsers, and focus on features and content."
Barry Quinn, founding partner of creative firm Juniper Park in Toronto, later added on this point during the conference, noting design is becoming "increasingly liquid" across multiple mediums. "You're not designing a thing, you're designing the idea of a thing," he said to those on hand. "It's killing print designers. They just can't give up that control."
This content was originally published on Masthead sister site, Design Edge Canada.
— Jeff Hayward
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Wow, Torstar really seems to be on a mission to bankrupt one magazine after another.... |
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(What is OCAD University doing? Getting rid of its foundation studies, where students are exposed to varying disciplines and media. It's also streamlining students faster and faster into disciplinary buckets like packaging or editorial design. The same old buckets we've been trying to poke holes in for over 100 years. It's not about some new tech device; it's about different disciplines collaborating on some of the world's most pressing opportunities. The technology is chosen after the problematics are formulated and during the selection of solutions or alternatives to the problematics.)
Belgium's Media, Arts & Design Faculty is the future. Not some veteran telling us that print designers should let go and embrace "responsive design." Nor is it university presidents being all like "super digital!" They might be sincere gestures for Canadians to open their eyes to new possibilities — the point is not to criticize the intentions of the person — but in the end, the gestures comes across as totally out dated and out of the loop.
There are print-based experiments in dynamism too. Manystuff's Open Books � Perpetual Proposal comes it mind. Perpetual Proposal is a system to initiate and record the flow of books within an exhibition as reading room. Now this may sound like a cute and quaint little experiment, but imagine if it was applied to Chapters? Imagine if it was applied to public libraries? There is potential to engage people dynamically too and in a non-digital way.
That said, since when is dynamism news? Hasn't this been the reality of designers � at least the digital part � for several decades now? I agree with Cedric Lapa. This is old, old news. If it sounds new to some professionals then they need to wake up and join not only the 20th century but the 21st century.
Ten years ago � yes, ten � in 2002, Lev Manovitch wrote The Language of New Media. It's a systematic look at new media: What is new media? What are its characteristics? (Hint: dynamism) What is not new media? What is old media? The book presents itself as a theoretical piece, which it is, but its filled with images to illustrate and accessible reading. Highly recommended for those who are actually interested in all this web-digital-dynamics stuff.
The fact that Jeremy Linskin has to say stuff like this is either because a) his conservative clients have only been knocking on the digital door for the last five years and/or b) his conservative audience of students from conservative schools are only now thinking, hey, there's this thing called the internet we should probably be paying attention to.