Designer Spotlight: Jaime Chismar
This is the first in a series of posts featuring designers we work with to develop amazing looking portals. To get in touch with Jaime, check out her site!
BIO ////////////////////////
I love to design a killer logo, create engaging content, and build a beautiful website. But, in my heart of hearts, I’m a storyteller.
What I love most about digital design is that there’s always something new to learn, create, and share. Along the way, I’ve worked with some amazing folks at some of Minnesota’s largest companies and media outlets, local non-profits and arts organizations, and family-owned businesses. Together, we’ve told some incredible stories about people and places, near and far. It’s always nice to win awards, but it’s even more gratifying when your project can serve your community.
My love of storytelling began with a set of My Little Ponies and an overactive imagination. I love to write, draw, take photographs, and test my luck with an occasional tap dance class or calligraphy workshop. As an undergrad, I studied to be a photojournalist, then I fell in love with the web. This was 1998 — and I haven’t looked back.
TRIANGLES ////////////////////////
When Kelly and Norm asked me to collaborate on a new design, I was thrilled to work with them again. They are a great team and make great work even better.
Dashboard design is deceptively difficult. It needs to be engaging, but it also needs to be simple enough to help people find what they need quickly and execute a task easily. I spent a lot of time talking with Kelly and Norm about information hierarchy and user roles. The right task should always be front and center for the right user.
Once we agreed on the layout, our next goal was switch up the personality from other dashboard designs. We wanted the new design to resonate with a company in the fashion or cosmetics industry.
First, I experimented with different typefaces often associated with high-end fashion magazines and websites. I chose a thinner sans-serif for a more modern and sleek look.
Fashion and cosmetics are all about color, so I also experimented with ways of incorporating more color into the dashboard. We tried several backgrounds, but the triangles were by far the best fit — and at the time — totally on trend. (And, I really liked how six triangles fit together make a hexagon of different colors. It was visually interesting without being overwhelming. Yeah, maybe I *was* staring at the mock-ups too long.)
The color palette of the triangle background gave us a sensible starting point to incorporate colors into the typography and iconography. The consistent use of color throughout a design is a powerful, but subtle communication tool. It can really help people navigate through information density to find what they need. At the end of the day, it’s their experience using the tools is all that matters.
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