From my blog entry on the Digital Space blog

It’s the age of the Internet — e-mail marketing, social networking, blogs. So why would you do printed, direct mail marketing? No one reads that stuff…do they? more at Digital Space>>

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Please check out our latest e-commerce site for Etesian Technologies, a manufacturer of wind speed sensors. This is a complete redesign of an existing site which (full disclosure) was designed and programmed by the ambitious inventor and intellectual client who had no prior web design experience.

The former site:

Old home page

Old shop page

The new site is managed entirely in WordPress and is integrated with Authorize.net and UPS. The look was updated, but the major improvement is in the functionality of the site for the user.

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It’s always helpful to actually work with clients, preferably at their own computer, and watch the way they use their websites and the internet in general.

What have I noticed? That a lot of my clients are confused between the location bar and Google search. Many people have Google set as their home page, and to get to a web page they type the URL (http://www.somelinkhere.com) into the Google search bar. Then they click “Search” and click on the link to the site they were looking for.

So what’s wrong with this? First of all, it has lots of unnecessary steps. But secondly, and most importantly, many times Google has not indexed the page the client is trying to get to (especially if, as in the case of my beta and building sites, they’re blocked from Google). That’s when I get the panicked calls: “I went to link you sent and there’s nothing there!”

Here’s what I send them:

Do you do this? Don’t feel embarrassed. You are in very smart, very successful company. But make your life easier and use Google for searching and the location bar for URLs.

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From my blog entry on the Digital Space blog

One of the things I most enjoy is working with non-profit clients — it’s especially satisfying to do design that makes a difference. We specialize in this type of work and our clients include a range of organizations, from those who work with troubled youth, to those who provide food and services for the disadvantaged, to those that work with the disabled, and more. Each organization has different design needs, but there are some things that are almost always true when working with non-profits… more at Digital Space>>

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From my mailbag:

My friend’s daughter has some questions about going to school for Web Design. She wanted to know the best way to proceed because she has a baby on the way and wants to make the right decision. She was thinking about taking an online degree program to obtain an AA in web design but wasn’t sure how big companies would perceive an online degree. What would you recommend her to do? Any advice or help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

My answer:

In my opinion, the degree won’t matter as much to a hiring company as a good, strong portfolio and working skills will. The question is whether an online university can get you to a place where your portfolio is strong enough.

I’d suggest looking at whatever student work is available from the school she’s looking at and compare it to the work from excellent design schools like RISD, SVA (in New York), Pratt, Montserrat, and even Mass Art and UMass Dartmouth.

My feeling is that picking the right school is only 50% of it. I didn’t even go to art/design school, but have my degree in English from Colby College. I worked my butt off, though, reading books and magazines about design, finding a good mentor, and taking classes (including an online class on Typography from The New School in New York — that may be a school to look at) to get me up to speed.

I hope that helps!

And a reply from the student in question:

Thanks so much for the info.  Now that I think about it, several of the job ads do mention portfolios.  I contacted the on-line schools for student work and they claim they are unable to share due to it being  considered Academic Dishonesty.  However, when I contacted the Art Institute, Ringling College of Art & Design and Savannah College of Art & Design, they sent a ton of examples.  I wish I could go to a brick and mortar school, but I think taking a class or two such as the Typography in addition to the online would be very helpful.  Thanks so much for your suggestions as they really got me to think a bit differently.

A lovely and gracious reply, don’t you think?

I actually get this question, or a variation on it, a lot which is why I’m posting it here. Have a question you’d like to ask? Fire away.

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