My Boring Life

iPad 3

admin — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 06:49:18 +0000

So, Apple Computers has released a new device. What does this mean for web designers? It’s a super-high resolution display in a small form factor. Making websites that will go from one device to another just got a little bit more complicated.

They’ve crammed more pixels into the 7.3×9.5″ display on the new iPad3 than there are in the display for the 21.5″ iMac. It’s sort of mind boggling in a good sort of way. Hopefully the 4g network can keep up with the increased file sizes we web designers are going to throw at users of the new device…

Check out the video at http://www.apple.com/ipad/#video.

Marketing With Social Media

admin — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:20:47 +0000

I found this article to be an interesting take on using social media – specifically Pinterest- for marketing online. I have not actually used Pinterest, but I can see the benefit of it especially for smaller companies who normally rely on word of mouth to find new clientele.

http://lisasuttora.com/how-to-use-pinterest-for-ecommerce-marketing

Web Design Inspiration

admin — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:12:31 +0000

I found this blog article talking about various art movements that have inspired web design. Folks have always looked at other art for inspiration. I needed a little bit of a light for a project for one of my classes, and this article helped…

Perhaps a surrealist-inspired portfolio site is in order?

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/art-inspiration-for-designers/

Creative Offices

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:41:10 +0000

Since we’re all graduating soon, we will be out of the classroom and into design firms, corporations or freelance design. The environment in which designers has a huge effect on the work that they produce.

My hope, at least, is not to end up in cubicle hell. I’d like to work in a place that inspires me to do my very best. Perhaps getting into one of the 20+ offices shown in the following story might be a bit much to ask; but I would hope to at least be in a company that values the work environment.

http://designmodo.com/office-designs/

Taste The Rainbow

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:17:31 +0000

At first glance, I did not think that the Skittles website was an official site for the brand. But then I realized that Wrigley has come up with a genius way to market Skittles. The random quotes, stories and seemingly unrelated things should appeal to the sort of people who eat Skittles; at least the younger “hip” ones.

The navigation itself is rather simple. I’m not a huge fan of sites with a lot of downward scrolling required, but it actually works in this case. I can see people going to the Skittles site and just randomly reading the posts: perhaps with a bag of Skittles and a pearl tea sitting on the side table next to a comfy chair. Perhaps some Adele on the headphone? Or maybe that’s because that’s what I’m listening to right now…

See it for yourself at Skittles.com.

Pricing For Creatives

admin — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:06:13 +0000

I came across this blog post from A List Apart thanks to the RSS feed on my own blog. The author has some great pointers on pricing, and some good thoughts on why we should consider pricing by the service rather than by the hour for creative services.

Do you want to set the pricing or follow someone else’s lead?

Pricing Strategy For Creatives

Design Trends To Avoid

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:24:25 +0000

Should you use the bevel and emboss? Should you add in-your-face drop shadows? Should you use the starburst effect? All of these question; and more, are answered in this relevant blog post from designshack.com; whose website looks to me like a cliche of modern web design (just kidding, but this trend is starting to fizzle too, methinks.

http://designshack.net/articles/graphics/5-former-design-trends-that-arent-cool-anymore-so-stop-using-them/

App Of The Year (So Far)

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:35:01 +0000

This is by far my favorite app downloaded so far this year. It’s an app that promises a lot… So far, it works really well.

Let’s say you are in, Oh I don’t know, Target; and you find a nice pair of shoes (just for you, Stacey…). Is that a good price on that pair of flats? Break out your smart phone with the Red Laser scanning application and scan the barcode. You’ll know in a few seconds how much those shoes are going for at other local stores and at online retailers.

Check out the website for more information.

http://redlaser.com/

Social Media Icons

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:44:26 +0000

One of the most pervasive trends in web design for 2012 will undoubtedly be the continued expansion of the role of social media in the online world, and in the real world for that matter. One of the tougher aspects of this can be in creating unique ways to envision the icons of the social media companies. I’ve normally traced the logos myself as needed, or used the files available from those company for web use. But what if you just need a simple way to represent, say Twitter.

What if there was a really easy way to get a Twitter ‘t’ or bird icon image? What if you it was just a click away in Photoshop or Illustrator? I recently discovered, thanks to the Outlaw Design Blog a font pack that has the logos of all of the major social media players, as well as a bunch of other companies whose logos you might want to incorporate into a design. I don’t even recognize all of the logos represented…

These obviously won’t work in every situation on their own, but with them, it will be much easier to, say, get the basic outline of the MySpace icon. I’m not sure what use you can find for that these days… But you’re creative, you’ll think of something!

Check out the blog entry at Outlaw Design Blog, and follow the link there to download the font for yourself. It’s free, and will come in handy.

http://www.outlawdesignblog.com/2012/01/social-media-icons-font/

Thoughts On Blogging

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:32:43 +0000

I feel that blogging is a great way for businesses to get the word out about what’s going on in their world in a live and up to date manner. Some companies do seem to use them merely to get their web page showing up higher in the rankings on the search engines; but hopefully there’s more to why they are writing the blog entries than that

As someone who is looking into eventually starting my own web and print design business; I see blogging as a great way to get out the word about what I’ve been working on and showing off my design work in a more personal fashion. Looking at a portfolio is great, but if potential clients can read my thoughts on each project I’ve chosen to highlight, they should better be able to understand my design process and perhaps would be more likely to hire me for a project.

Until now, I’ve used my blog almost solely to highlight what’s been going on in my life. I know how to blog, I just need to shift the emphasis to bringing the light to my professional work.