Café en Madrid
The second of a series, the header image from the Articles section originates from a photo that conjures up great memories with international friends. This is Café en Madrid…
During my six-year tenure at Wired, we were acquired twice. Once by Lycos, then Lycos by Terra, a giant Spanish media portal. My position managing U.S. design standards opened up several opportunities for travel to Terra’s headquarters in Madrid. There, my local colleagues introduced me to the tradition of hopping from bar to bar to sample the tapas at each one, all while sharing stories, exploiting our language differences, and pulling practical jokes on each other. I speak just enough Spanish to communicate fairly well, but the team at Terra taught me the language of Spanish design. Planchetas, reglas, marcas, y más. I treasure their friendship.
I love doorways and windows, and the typography that often graces their existence. While sightseeing on my own in Madrid (and later in Barcelona) I was enamored with the store fronts of many bars and cafes that make up so much of the Spanish urban livelihood. If I remember correctly, this beautiful cerveceria was just a stone’s throw away from Puerta del Sol.
Aside from the fact that one of the CSS techniques I wrote about uses “Doors” in the title, I think articles and tutorials are the doorways and windows which enable us to see and enter a different world. So this photo seemed appropriate to use as a base for the Articles section header. This header makes use of the most aggressive motion blur of any of them. Although I was going for texture and color (not recognizable imagery) I still enjoy having a purpose behind the imagery I use, no matter how abstract it becomes.
18 comments so far (Post your own)
I suppose you tried all kind of “tapas”… “tortilla”, “morcilla”, “jamón”, “calamares”, …
Greetings from Madrid
y gambas… ¡que rica!
Love the new site design, giving a different color theme to each page is great. Header images are similar enough to assure you’re still at the same site even though colors change, I like it.
I love all this talk/imagery about traveling lately, it is getting me excited for summer vacations.
Great memories, Doug!
When are you coming back? … ok, you are right, we owe you a visit to San Francisco. ;-)
We will try it!
Ricote, mmm nice beer.
Wow. We were coworkers for a month… Did the Spanish introduce you to the wonderful tradition of smoking “black tar” cigarettes at their desks too?
-Russ
Wow, Doug, quite insightful if you ask me. I really dig the new design, it’s clean and easy on the eyes.
Did you find it difficult to choose from a collection of your photos? I know, from experience, with a stackful of imagery, finding the right photo to base my design from is challenging at first.
Is the leftmost door section a fixed panel? It looks odd to have a door space in three thirds yet only two open - why not two larger doors instead?
Also, are the curtains etched onto the glass or are they real?
Great photo! I lived in Spain, mostly Barcelona area, for two years and loved it there. They do have some of the best inspiration of design around, from Guadi’s work to Salvador Dali you can’t miss the beauty of spanish art and design.
Increible Doug! Bueno, veo que si podemos vernos en Washington en Agosto (User Experience Week) me encargaré de poner a prueba tus conocimientos del idioma…
I hope I can make it to Spain someday. Specially Barcelona and Madrid. And of course your current design is ace.
Spain is different.
nikochan, from Barcelona :)
Hmm… did you actually come up with the articles/doors contrast when thinking about the header image for the page, or did you apply it, make it look nice, and then realise it actually fits pretty well? I say this because I often end up doing that inadvertently - choosing a stock image and applying it, and then realising it actually suits the project style plan appropriately and appending an explanation to the relevant documents.
And I suppose you did notice how spanish are nice :)
Greetings from Portugal :)
Hum… sorry but in french we say : “Café à Madrid” ;-)
I had such troubles in Madrid, if you go back I will have to tell you the hotel we stayed in, really amazing. It is nice living in Europe because you get to visit all of these great places. Also, the people are so different everywhere you go.
If you come to Belgium (no, I don’t know why you would either) let me know and I can show you the fun spots here.
I had such troubles in Madrid, if you go back I will have to tell you the hotel we stayed in, really amazing. It is nice living in Europe because you get to visit all of these great places. Also, the people are so different everywhere you go.
If you come to Belgium (no, I don’t know why you would either) let me know and I can show you the fun spots here.
Hi “Diego”,
I’m Olga…one of the persons who belongs to Terra (well, very soon I’ll say “belonged to Terra”). I guess you don´t remember me, anyway…congratulations for your site!!!, it´s a great inspiration for our own weblog, Nethodical.com.
Yes: OUR OWN weblog, because a part of the team in Terra have started this year a weblog where we write about user experience, web standards, usability and things like these.
Of course is in Spanish, but if you want to have a look I’m sure you won’t have problems!!
Keep on doing it so well.
Saludos desde Madrid.
Do they eat lunch at 3pm daily?
Do they eat lunch at 3pm daily?
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