These are My Favorite Types of Jobs
Getting creative with invites. The client is pretty upscale and so when they asked for a fiesta theme I tried to stay away from Sombrero’s and Burros.
I’m quite proud of these since I did them in Photoshop from scratch. Sometimes I use stock art in my designs, but these I just had to have some brush.
New to York
I found this site through CSS Beauty – a site I frequent whenever I’m in need of inspiration. I loved it so much I thought I would share it with you.
And this made me LOL and it is at the bottom of Tyler Thompson’s site and should be at the bottom of all of our websites to help people who are using IE realize that they are dinosaurs using stone tablets:
“Hi, if you are coming to this site via Internet Explorer 6, you might not be getting the best experience possible. Honestly, I can’t even begin to think about what your entire experience on the internet must be like? (…probably like riding a bike on the highway while cars blow by you on their way to Costco to get gallons of mayonnaise and 60-inch plasma TV’s). How will you ever be able to use this website?????? You wont. You’re an asshole and your browser is an asshole. So look, I’m going to be honest: I kind of hate you. BUT we c-a-n make this work. Here is what I am going to need you to do: fire up your Toshiba ShitBook© that weighs about 45 pounds, wipe the Cheeto dust off the screen, download Safari, delete Internet Explorer from your computer, punch yourself in the face, and get me a pulled pork sandwich.”
Scope Creep: Keeping Your Projects on Time and On Budget
When you are starting your own business there are a number of things you don’t learn in business school. Sure you learn accounting and marketing, but you don’t learn that when dealing with customers and clients there is always going to be “Scope Creep”.
Scope Creep is when you tell your client what you will deliver and then as you are working on the project that client starts adding on new items that might be only slight tweaks and modifications but can really eat into you time and budget.
How do you avoid this? You put together a time line, a bulleted list of deliverables and you specify what is “In Scope” and “Out of Scope” i.e. – the finished product will:
1. Run On Batteries
2. Is Water Proof
The finished product will not:
1. Run on Solar Power
2. Will not work underwater
I won’t get into all the details on this site, but in many of my projects I didn’t start out with a good scope of the project. I’d send emails to clients with a list of deliverables, they would respond with a “Go Ahead” and then 6 months later the project would not be wrapped up because of all the changes and modifications. In the end it wasn’t my clients fault, it was mine. I needed to be the one to set boundaries. To specify the number of revisions and to set a price either per revision or hourly that was agreed upon BEFORE the project was started.
Once you have clearly outlined your project, be sure and attach it to a contract, print two copies and have both parties sign it. Keep one for yourself and give one to them. Do not believe that people will be trustworthy even if they are your friends. Unfortunately people have a way of making business personal and what is personal business and so it is best to protect yourself if you want to be paid for your work.
For more information on Scope Creep check out this article.
Design Evolution
It started with a basic concept and then evolved…
It’s amazing how the design process can involve so many tweaks. Imagine the number of times I tried various colors, shapes, placing of images, etc.
Graphic with the flag and Texas Capitol created by Adam Wermuth or http://www.biggfx.com He can pretty much rock out anything in Photoshop!
Scrap-Booking is DEAD!
Okay, if it’s not, it should be…
I just scanned over 1000 photos for a client of mine. I scanned all of her scrap books and turned them into digital collections on Flickr. It was a long process, but now that it is done these photos can be turned into wonderful slideshows that her children can view in the media room with music instead of just flipping through some pages in a dusty scrapbook that has been buried in the attic with old board games like Monopoly and Operation.
Now with online photo editing services like Picnic and FotoFlexer there is no need to have Photoshop for minor photo touch ups and fun digital scrap book clipart.
But you say, “What about Grandma? She doesn’t have a computer!” Well, that is where Shutterfly, Lulu, Snapfish and Couture Book swoop in and save the day. Now you can pull your digital photos together, put them in beautiful layouts and then print them in a hard bound book that will last much longer than your old scrapbook with tape and glue and sticky pins. And after all those purchased scrap book supplies it will probably cost about the same and look 10 times better.
What’s more… you can easily create business cards, Holiday cards, calendars, photo mugs, t-shirts all with the websites listed above and these photos will actually be seen and enjoyed by people whereas very few people, other than the person that created it, likes to sit on the couch and flip through a scrap book – boring.
So please, please STOP IT WITH THE CRAZY GLUE and just go digital. Your photos and your friends will thank you and your photos will last for years even through fire and any other natural disaster that might happen to your house.
Gary Go – Wonderful
iTunes is currently giving away a song by Gary Go called “Wonderful” and it is…
I love iTunes. Yes there are other ways to purchase music or steal it, but I like the simplicity and business model of iTunes. I love the genius features and the fact that I can categorize and synchronize my music easily without a monthly contract or weird billing. Mix all of that with their amazing customer service and reliable products and you’ve got a winner.
I also finally gave up my BlackBerry for an iPhone because I need the ability to download music on demand for my DJ business: http://www.soundandshow.com I haven’t received it in the mail yet, but I’m CHOMPING AT THE BIT to get it and move into the 2009′s.
The Gary Go album is pretty sweet and has a great remixed version of Lady GaGa’s Just Dance. I suggest scooping the whole album. Your ears will thank you.
Fresh New Design
There are some designs that are truly breathtaking, alluring, wonderful, simple, clean… this is one of those sites:
http://www.gavincastleton.com/
Go To The Hub
One of my clients is in the process of rebranding. We have changed the site name to The Hub and since TheHub.com was taken I came up with the idea to create the url http://www.gotothehub.com which is a nice work-around.
The site was created in a Woo Theme – Aperture because we like the clean images and simple layout. The Logo was designed by in_5_ide – who we found through Crowdspring.
Some of the images are my original creations while others are from current and past graphic designers that used to work on www.songofsolomon.com which is the old site name.
Why the big move? Well, in an effott to stay current with all the latest social networking trends and to take advantage of great WordPress Technology and plugins, we decided to transition from a mostly static site to WordPress.
This site has been very time consuming as we have tons of data that needs to be moved over, but all in all I am quite pleased with the turn out. I have some other Theme customizations that I’d like to implement to make this site more our own, but for now, we are so happy to be moving in this new direction.
Check it out: http://www.gotothehub.com
CrowdSpring – Deal or Dud?
I’ve been disappointed lately by two designers… when I pay for something, I have high expectations – especially when I could do the work myself.
Design is like home remodeling in that it requires a lot of feedback from person requesting the work that is being done. Recently I had someone design a site for me and I felt like they did crappy work when it came to the details. Little things were left untidy, like an unsewn hem on a skirt or a missing button on a blouse. It didn’t ruin the entire garment, but it sure made it less appealing.
One of my clients is having a logo done by Crowdspring designers and I’m afraid to admit that I have been very disappointed in the designs we have received. Most of the work looks like it came from a high school student. A few of the concepts are decent, but they didn’t listen to anything we said about the design being simple, clean and elegant.
I have to admit that part of me feels a little guilty for using a service like Crowdspring. It is one of those services that waters down design and forces capable designers to work for less than they are really worth because of all the competition. However, really good designers normally seek out clients that are willing to pay for the best. With this new client of mine we wanted to use Crowdspring so we could get a variety of options for a reasonable price. With a new name we wanted to take a leap and test the Crowdspring waters, but so far I’m only marginally impressed – take a look for yourself at some of the crap we have received in the design department.
See more of the atrocities here.
As far as CrowdSpring being a deal or a dud, I say Dud.