Nick Zadrozny

I’m pretty sure Pan’s Labyrinth is the best movie I’ve seen in a long time. Same goes for Blood Diamond. The power of righteousness and self-sacrifice.

A friends and family post on the life and times of yours-truly. 

My life’s pendulum has finally swung too far in the direction of work. Determined to put things in balance, I have lately been rediscovering old passions and lining up some hobbies to occupy non-work time. (So work and mindless web-browsing doesn’t!)

Art — Just got my hands on and am about to start working through a book of drawing exercises. This’ll be one of my main hobbies this month: learning to look at the world more closely, and reproduce its lines, spaces, relationships, shadows, and gestalt.

Music — My rudimentary grasp on musical theory, and novice to amateur-level technique on a handful of instruments, I hope to one day stoke into full-fledged composition. For now it’s getting my hands on an audio interface, graduating from Garage Band to Logic, deciding on a decent USB keyboard, and putting some more time into the piano.

Reading — Okay, you got me, I’m not rediscovering this one, per se. But increased busyness often by necessity means better habits and increased productivity. Thus I have found myself into a few interesting books lately. Simultaneously. Focus, Nick.

Writing — This blog and the other. Random, and deeper, theological musings. Some web stuff. Still trying to decide who my audience is, besides my own brain, but I know communication is important, and writing profoundly so. Besides, it’s actually kinda fun so I might as well just dive in. Expository speaking (on video!) may come next once I “find my voice.”

Running around — Getting some new shoes this weekend and back in the habit. It’s about time to train for a 5k (then a 10k, then a half-marathon, then a marathon). Throw some weight training in there (there’s a lot one can do without a gym membership) and my lifestyle starts to look healthy.

What are some others? I don’t know. Cooking? I saw cooking lessons at Whole Foods which I’d imagine to be quite amusing. Meals are always a great excuse to invite some friends over and talk about life. Dancing lessons? The thought has occurred to me. Maybe when I’ve got someone to dance with. Martial arts? Well, I like the idea of being fit and coordinated and able to defend the defenseless, but I’m still slightly working through that issue of faith and non-violence, not to mention averse to spending money on lessons. Sports? Never was very competitive, but I do enjoy the occasional game of pick-up volleyball or soccer. Computer games? Yeah I am into those enough as it is. Two nights a week playing some MMO with my brother could be appropriate and entertaining.

1. Brainstorm features and goals for your site. Everything goes, just make sure it gets captured. Preferably on a big whiteboard, which is where synergy really comes in to play.
2. Focus and refine your scope for the current iteration. Ruthlessly eliminate everything that is not absolutely essential. If the business will survive without it, you probably don’t need it yet.
3. Tell stories with your features. Come up with a step by step narration in plain language of how a user is going to interact with your focused feature set.
   
4. Diagram the flow of functionality based on your user stories. A simple mind map is a very helpful tool to plan and track progress.
5. Draw wireframe sketches, ignoring details, to get the big concepts down on paper. Revisit steps 2-4 as needed.
6. Develop plain HTML mockups, with no style or branding, just to see how all your ideas fit on a screen and whether any adjustments need to be made to accommodate browsers.
   
7. Develop a functional interface with enough back end in place to make real changes. Now we’re working with real software and getting a sense of its usability.
8. Polish it up by developing some layout comps using your overall identity, branding, and website style guide.
9. Release it and start getting feedback from real users. Next week, start over at step 1. Have fun!