T&S Web Design

Sometimes I find the best way to concentrate on my work and get a lot done is to just put on some headphones and work in my own little world. This (hopefully) will decrease outside distractions and allow me to not only get work done, but get it done well. I find that music is is one of (if not the best) way to get some creative juices flowing. These are the main reasons I have decided to buy some new headphones!

All this being said, I first wanted to find some headphones that were comfy. If I’m going to be wearing them all day, I don’t want my ears to hurt. Also, I want them to be easily removable in case I need to take them off and put them back on a lot. For these reasons, I decided that over the ear headphones would be best. Currently, I have a pair of Sony MDR-V150 which are decent, but after a couple hours they kind of hurt because they are a tight fit. In looking for a new pair, I know Bose makes nice headphones, so that’s where I started. I actually listened to a pair of Bose around-ear headphones at Target, and they sounded awesome, but after some research, I found out that Sennheiser makes some of the best headphones out there.

After some more reasearch on Amazon.com and Headphone.com (which by the way has excellent reviews) I decided to go with a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones. I have to say that these are the best headphones I have ever used. They sound even better than the Bose around-ear headphones and are extremely comfortable. I got these $200 headphones off Amazon.com for about $75.

If you are in the market for some headphones of any type, I would recommend starting your search at Headphone.com, they know their stuff. I actually used this article that recommended the best headphones to use with an iPod, which is how I ultimately made my decision.

Free. Something everyone wants and something designers thrive on. Smashing Magazine is constantly giving away inspiration to designers, which we’ll always accept with open arms. Here is a link to some desktop calendars that will spark some design creativity, and you can alternate monthly! These were created by designers around the world, and Smashing Magazine is always looking for fresh designs. I am constantly amazed with the quality of their website; their information is insightful, they always have freebies, and they’re innovative. Check out the website with the calendars and download one for your desktop; don’t hesitate to browse the rest of the site!

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/10/31/desktop-wallpaper-calendar-november-2008/

No, I’m not trying to put my designers out of a job. I just know that many people starting a business have time to set up a website themselves, but not all the skills. Here are a few websites you can use to get free designs. Warning: You will still need to modify some code to fit these to your specific needs.

Open Source Web Design

Open Design Community

Open Web Design

Open Source Design

Usually, a designer strives to think outside of the box. While this is what we (should) do best, when it comes to the web, sticking to standards will make it easier on the user. Magazines have a table of contents near the front, and page numbers in the corners. Newspapers are divided into sections, headlines span across entire articles, and the largest headline is the most important.

Similarly, web sites have certain elements people look for, and designers can use this fact to their advantage. When a user navigates to a site for the first time, they expect certain standards. They expect the navigation to be confined to a section of the page, some sort of header on the top, and a logo or company name on the top right. When a site meets these expectations, the user can easily navigate, and know where they are at any given moment, without having to search around for the button that will take them to the contact page. Ebay is an example of following this set of standards:

Designers can find this standardization limiting on their part, but they still can create unique and beautiful sites within these guidelines (thinking outside the box?). These standards are not rules set in stone, they will change through time, but for now, if you want maximum usability on your site, you should consider following these guidelines.

Finally, thinking outside of the box is never a bad thing, as long as your ideas work. More specifically, depending on the purpose of the site and target audience, you may want to try something new. So long as the learning curve for the user is worth the visual interest or purpose of the site then go for it. Ideally, your design will require no learning curve at all. A site I came across recently, JLern Design, is an excellent example of a new form of navigation that is not difficult to grasp (although its downfall is slow loading time, which is another issue).

The design conference is sponsored by HOW Magazine, which is an excellent source for either businesses or individuals. They provide “essential business information, up-to-date technological tips, the creative whys and hows behind noteworthy projects, and profiles of professionals who are influencing design.”

The HOW Design Conference launched in 1991 and also focuses on the three design elements of creativity, business, and technology. Every year, over 45 speakers are recruited to well-known design cities such as, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, etc. It is an amazing environment, filled with 2,000+ designers that are all looking for the same creative inspirations. The conference is a life-changing experience and one that every designer should encounter.

Visit http://www.howconference.com for more details on the conference

or http://www.howdesign.com for the magazine website.

Sometimes the best way to improve your designs is to learn new techniques. I find that when I design a site, sometimes I inadvertently limit myself because I do not know the best way to do certain things. By following through a few tutorials, you can really expand your knowledge, thus enabling you to be a better designer. I have found that fireworks tutorials are not as easy to come by as others, so here is a good list to get you started:

Flisterz

Layers Magazine

Adobe Developer Connection

Abduzeedo

Sixthings

Fireworkszone

Qrayg

Voidix

Firetuts

Youtube

Senocular

Tutorialized

Many designers come up with amazing concepts while brainstorming for a project, and everything appears to be perfect up until the actual design starts. Many times, the artwork doesn’t always emphasize the potential of the original idea. One of the biggest problems is the wrong use of typefaces. Something every designer should understand is the importance of typography and how using the correct typeface will solve many problems. Many professionals will choose a top 20 typefaces and only use those: the fewer, the better. Here is a common list of typefaces:

• Centaur
• Jenson
• Bembo
• (Adobe) Garamond
• Minion
• Times New Roman
• Baskerville
• Mrs. Eaves
• Bauer Bodoni
• Didot
• Clarendon
• Rockwell
• Serifa
• Franklin Gothic
• News Gothic
• Helvetica Neue
• Univers
• Futura
• Fruitger
• Copperplate Gothic

The right typeface can make all the difference in the world and change the feel of the design. Businesses need to convey their identity through their logo, and the typeface can make or break this communication. Here is an example (to the right), showing how a typeface can change the logo. The correct logo on the bottom displays a more professional feel, where the top logo feels more playful and doesn’t suit the company.

Now that we’ve talked about saving time, let’s talk about saving money. This one is actually pretty easy to see from several standpoints.

First, the flexibility of a website can save money over traditional marketing materials. Let’s say you have some marketing material printed up. 5,000 brochures, 5,000 business cards and 5,000 fliers. As is common with small businesses, things change. Maybe it’s an email address, maybe a phone number, maybe even a service or product you offer. All of a sudden, you’re out over $1,000 dollars.

With a website, it’s different. You don’t have to spend tons of money to reprint brochures, business cards and fliers. Instead, you just go online, tweak your website’s text, and you’re good to go.

Another method was brought to our attention by one of our earliest clients, Cactus Jack’s Family Fun Center. One of the reasons they wanted a website was to save money on an ongoing basis with advertising. The fact that you can fit plenty of information in a website means you’re not paying to cram all that info into a phone book ad or into a television spot. Instead, you put just enough information to whet the appetite of your potential customer, then send them to your website for more in depth information.

While ads in the phone book, newspapers and magazines are still helpful, you don’t have to sell the product right there. You do still need to have eye-catching and memorable ads, but you can do the actual sales pitch on the website.

Finally, some websites simply save money on postage and gas. While musicians like The Herndons and Devin Derrick could mail out sample CDs to get their music out there, why not put a website up and include samples on the site instead? Sure, photographers like Beautiful Bride Photography and Colette Staats could drive around showing potential clients their portfolios, but why not point them to their websites?

I think you get the idea.

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Tessa McGee contacted us several weeks ago about donating something to Oklahoma Christian University’s auction for Tony’s Alley. We were happy to donate logo design with four logo choices. Today we discovered that Tessa tied for Freshman Seminar Auction Contest For Most Creative Donation.

Congrats, Tessa! Tessa is on the right in the picture to the right.

This week, let’s talk about saving time with a website. After all, time is money, so saving yourself a few minutes here and a few minutes there will end up saving (and making) you money as well.

One of the most common ways to save time is to simply answer the most common questions on your website. This should be questions that you find yourself answering again and again in the course of an average business day or week.

One of our clients who has done a good job of this is Daisy Exchange, a trendy clothing exchange store in the Oklahoma City area. On their website, they tell how the buying and reselling process works, different brands and items they buy, and even mention job opportunities.

Another way to save time is to put videos online. Before their website was online, midwestmedia and marketing had to go to a bit of trouble to show potential clients samples of their videography. They either had to show them in person or burn a DVD and mail it to them. Now, all they have to do is direct potential clients to their website to see how great their video skills are.

A third way to save time is to move processes to the website. Tinker and the Primes is a yearly event that helps connect small businesses with government contracts and sub-contracts. Registration for the thousands of attendees used to be a time-consuming, unwieldy process for the staff. Now, with online registration, the process is much simpler. The registrants sign up on the website and receive automatic emails with reminders. The staff just has to log into the website to get up-to-date numbers and view spreadsheets and reports.

These few examples should provide some insight into the different ways websites can save your business time, therefore making your website actually turn a profit. Next week we’ll be looking at how your website can save you money.

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