The cascade isn't just for style sheets it's also for website style guides. I’m a firm believer that if you are designing for the web it is essential to have a solid grasp of what it takes to build your own website. I’m not saying that every web designer needs to be a web developer (yes, there is a difference), but that without understanding current web standards, knowing web conventions and what technology solutions are available you’re really missing a huge chunk of your web design foundation. These things aren’t there to hold you back from coming up with new solutions. They are there to help you decide what is a good idea and what isn’t. Creativity is not at odds with convention.

It seems every other week, a web designer tells me the jig is up, my days as a print designer are numbered. Didn't you hear? About this thing called the internets? It's going to make print design obsolete. Some days, amid facebook and twitter and the increasing amount of time I spend online, I worry they're right.

We buy books from Amazon, music from iTunes and everything else on eBay – all without once speaking to another human being. We entrust our identities and finances to brands; PayPal has our credit cards, Google our email and Facebook our personal information. No eye contact, no handshake – it’s a bit flaky sometimes but we still trust. So what does this have to do with design? Actually, as it turns out, quite a bit.

The entrepreneur who picks a logo off the shelf to use, solely because it appeals to himself or herself, is more likely to fail in business than the entrepreneur that engages in a full design process. This isn't just because self-reflection can sometimes be a smokey mirror. A full design process can be defined many ways, but for this post, lets say it is is one with research, symmetrical communication between the organization and its stakeholders, and sound design thinking with evaluation. Designers know the value of the design - but how can this value be articulated and understood by those outside of the industry? How do you define the value of design?

Is design technology doing what we need it to do? New products are everywhere, but is technology helping with quality products or obfuscating design's purpose with quantity of products? Are those responsible for rendering our designs doing so in a timely way? Finally, is infrastructure for cloud computing ready for what designers will need it to do?

How do you balance the sit-at-desk nature of design work with the need for physical activity in your day-to-day life? Personally, I go for walks at lunch, and sometimes I'll do the 4 kilometer walk home. If I'm lucky, I'll get some tennis in - but there doesn't seem to be a lot of time for that...

The focus of this post is the metamorphosis of a few industries that have gone under the unforgiving microscope of the internet: how would their business model succeed when the physics of their media shifted? What role does design have when entire industries lose their footing and have to re-establish themselves?

I read many design websites - more specifically I read websites that designers maintain. Here are some of the ones that I have plugged into Google Reader..

I was at my fiancée's parents' place last weekend, and they had something very interesting sitting on their coffee table. In very good condition, it was the 10 year anniversary edition of Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone magazine was started in 1967, which meant that the magazine I was looking at was printed in 1977 - 32 years ago for those of you keeping count. I figured I'd have a look and see what layout trends I could pick up...

I have been asked to take an editorial role here at the GDC National blog, one which I am delighted and honoured to take on. All I intend to do in this first post is introduce myself and explain a bit about what I intend on writing about.