DONOVANHOUSE » design

Billy Graham on Technology & Faith

Matt — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:34:53 +0000

I’ve been thinking a bit about the futility of the design profession lately. I’m talking real design—problem solving design, not decoration or art.

We’re never really solving the root problems, rather we’re just putting band-aids on the tangible issues because only God can fix what’s wrong with the world and what’s wrong with us. Billy Graham gave this talk at TED eleven years ago on technology and faith. It’s still completely relevant.

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Design Sponge

Matt — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:24:10 +0000

My friend, Daniel, just told me about this website. Some really cool before & after + DIY interior design resources.

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Matthew Henry’s Method for Prayer

Matt — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:42:06 +0000

From the website –

Promoting, encouraging, and assisting biblical prayer

This is a great example of fantastic content fused with outstanding design. Can’t wait to dig in!

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Work and Worship

Matt — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 04:31:30 +0000

I’ve noticed I make poor design decisions when I don’t listen to my gut. Either I’m too lazy to plough through the added iterations or I’m too proud to take a cue from someone who shouldn’t know what they’re talking about because they aren’t The Designer�.

In Luke 5:4-9, Simon is asked by Jesus to drop his nets on the other side of the boat. He responds, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” For better or for worse, I read some sarcasm in his response. “Okay – if you say so, Master.” I think I read it that way because I tend to have a bitchy attitude about seemingly silly requests.

After the men haul in a huge load of fish, Simon falls on his knees saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” On reading this, I am ashamed. I think many times the “gut feeling” I have about a design is the Holy Spirit nudging me toward being better. That difficult client request, if nothing else, is a chance to ask God (The Designer) for help.

I’ve always thought about worship at work as a Tuesday morning Bible study or a (mostly) daily prayer time. Only now am I beginning to realize that God knows how to do my job infinitely better than I do. Not only can I come to him for help with my laziness and pride, I can ask him for help choosing colors, developing grid systems, solving interface problems, designing for accessibility, and the list goes on.

If I ask him for help, believing that he listens and trusting that he knows better than I do, I’m more aptly ready to praise him in the successes and run to him in the failures. In the end, I think that’s all that really matters.

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Wordle

Matt — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:01:02 +0000

Wordle takes words from any block of text and assembles them like a tag cloud. Could be a really interesting assistant to a bible study. The example pictured above is from Isaiah 9.

(HT: Kevin Cawley)

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Photoshop Button Maker

Matt — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 21:00:19 +0000

PSDTuts posted a short tutorial today on how to make buttons in Photoshop. They’re easy peasy. You should make some.

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