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>>

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.

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.

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>>

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.

Color inspiration can come from anywhere. In December’s Metropolitan Home (RIP. Sob) there was a feature about an apartment with an amazing color palette. My favorite image is above: gorgeous, unexpected color.

I ran the image through CSS Drive’s Image to Colors Palette Generator and was rewarded with this mouthwatering color palette:

Yum.

For more color palettes, please see:
Color Palette Goodness

A paid writing job! My diploma is kvelling.

This is what the internet is all about. I’m warning you, though: This font shooting game is completely addictive.

PS: Note the last two daily high scores. BOO-YA!

“We hired a designer to make the graphics/do the SEO/run the Ad Words program. Oh! I didn’t know you do that.”

In the past three or four weeks, I have had variations of this conversation with different clients.

Since I’m so familiar with my company and the services we provide, I often forget to spell them out for new, and even longtime, clients. Did you know:

• I am an award winning graphic designer?
• We design brochures, books, annual reports, marketing pieces, direct mail, folders… pretty much anything printed?
• We also design logos?
• All of the websites we design include a content management system and free tech support for the life-time of the site?
• We work with printers both locally and remotely to get the best price and the best fit for your project?
• Our partners include videographers, writers, editors, photographers, illustrators, Flash developers, and programmers?
• Our websites are based in Wordpress, using it as a content management system?
• We keep up with the latest in search engine optimization, and all of our sites researched for keywords and are SEO optimized?
• We run several Google Ad Word campaigns for our clients?
• We offer non-profit organizations a 10% discount?

Probably not, because I don’t mention those things that often — I’m usually too focused on the project at hand. That’s a major mistake on my part. Our existing clients are already sold on us and usually are more than happy to find out that we can provide extra services. And even if they don’t need them, knowing that we do more helps with our word of mouth marketing when they tell other people about us.

So what are we going to do about this?

First of all, I’m going to get more comfortable with that piece of marketing. It feels odd to toot my own horn, but if I don’t, who will?

Secondly, I am going to distribute our “Soup to Nuts” brochure (already printed, sitting on our bookshelf) to every current and prospective client. I made the brochures for a trade show, but they’re certainly not doing us any good in our office. We already know what we do.

Thirdly, we are planning some promotional pushes (email and direct mail) emphasizing the breadth and depth of services we provide.

Lastly, we are going to focus more on social networking to get the word out. We already have a Twitter account (@LeslieTane) and we’re going to start a Facebook page soon, focusing on the scope of the work we provide.

Hearing “I wish we’d known you do that. We would have hired you” once is one time too many. Let the promoting begin!

Want to toot your own horn? Go ahead and do it in the comments!

Interesting lettering, quirky artwork, classic looking limited palette, background texture adding depth to the design. Not only did I think this was a winner, but I saw that there was a whole series of books which carry through this design:

These books were published by Bantam Paperback, and kudos to them on the excellent work.

Would I have bought this book, though, if it looked like this?

(Bantam 2006 mass market paperback). Probably not. The cover isn’t terrible, but isn’t good, either. It certainly doesn’t stand out to me in any significant way. The art strikes me as a much too literal interpretation of the mystery inside.

This one would have been a contender, but compared to the recent paperback designs it pales in comparison:

(Bantam 2005 hardcover)

(Bantam 2005 paperback) This cover feels very discordant to me. I really hate the top, very classical, type treatment of the author’s name (Shàngó) with the deco feeling treatment of the title. And the colored woodcut look of the art seems to match neither style.

(Doubleday 2004 hardcover) Does the art match better here? Maybe. The type still aggravates me.

And then we have the audiobooks:

Nothing horrible here, but nothing setting me on fire either.

Not only did I buy the book because of the excellent design, but I was more willing to give the book content the benefit of the doubt as well. Design makes a difference.