Our web and graphic design blog

We started our blog in June 2005 and nearly three years later are still going strong.

You may find this blog intresting if you are looking to hire a web or graphic designer, you are interested in web site usability and search engine optimization or are a web/graphic designer looking for some tips and tricks.

Today I am going to talk a little about the sort of subjects we cover here for any of our new readers. Each of our posts are given one or more label to categorize them so I thought it would make sense to talk about our categories:-

• Design Snippets
  We cover subjects here that are useful to graphic and web designer. For example Meaning and associations of color, What is Ipsum Lorem and Favicons.


• Eye of the St Louis Web Designer
  A picture speaks a thousand words and most of the photographs we feature in this section are of something that has given us inspiration, from a fabulous natural color palette to a great texture or pattern. As mentioned thoughtout these posts a designer's eye never sleeps


• FREE
  Who doesn't like free stuff. We cover everything from free custom i google designs, the free definition phase or our projects to our much visited recipe for a garden deer repellant.


• Graphic Design projects
  A showcase of graphic design projects, from brochures, letterheads, banners, menus, logos, newsletters, greeting cards and packaging.


• Indigo Tips
  Tips to improve your productivity and internet experience


• Internet marketing
  The ever changing world of Search engine optimization.
  
• Logos
  A showcase of our logo design
  
• Project Progress
  We multi task big time and this section illustrates the current projects we are working on


• Random Thoughts
  I think everyblog needs a section like this..a little bit of everything here..and as the title suggests ...random


• STL Marketing executive
  A category written by our guest writer. He shares perspectives drawn from his experience of branding, global business management and marketing in a B2B environment.
  
• Web design Projects
  A showcase of our web design projects


• Web Site Usability
  Considerations for giving your site visitors the experience you want them to have.
  
  

iGoogle Theme: showcase

One of the best places to find quality themes for your iGoogle home page is at www.inthemes.com. Every week they feature one of the themes from their directory on their site; this week it is one I recently created called The Boffins


Here is what they have to say


Theme of the Week: The Boffins
Every week here at inThemes we like to showcase one of our favorite themes by applying it to our own homepage. This week it's The Boffins by Zoe Feast, but why does it always make me think of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew?

Like it? Get it!

Web Site Spring Cleaning

Maybe it is the sudden "greening up" here in St Louis or the fact I actually had a couple of free hours yesterday begging to be filled ... there was a sudden urgency that my web site needed a "spring clean".
I made a list of the things I wanted to rework and tackled just the first yesterday... updating our web design portfolio. This has tended to take a back seat with our recent volume of work and I have been relying on our blog to announce new projects. Our web design portflio has now been updated with a 7th gallery.

My next step is to tackle our graphic design portfolio which I plan on re-organizing ...when I have time!

St Louis After Shocks

Some pretty decent after shocks felt in my office at 10.15 this morning following the earthquake in the early hours. The power of the earth is really quite amazing.
It was my first experience of an earthquake but I knew instantly what is going on.

Excitement over...back to work now! I am currently working on a new web site for Hotshots, a logo for an investment company, navigation re design for a local small business portal and branding elements for a St Louis construction project.

Job satisfaction

As a web and graphic designer I love my job and am passionate about what I do.

This week I took a little time off and joined my daughter on a "Heritage Day" field trip. We were treated to eight presentations by local experts on everything from candle making to "Toys enjoyed by pioneer children". I particulary enjoyed the presentation by a blacksmith who was very also passionate about his trade. He made a nail and an artistic rendition of a leaf.

Eye of a St Louis Web Designer

Is it me or have we had a long winter this year? I am more than ready for spring.
Here is a little burst of fabulous designer spring color from my garden: evidence that winter is over. As a web & graphic designer color can be a great inspiration, I love the contrast of purple and green in this photograph.

Dynamic design for i Google.

A couple of months back I wrote a couple of posts on i Google, Google's approach to personailzing their interface
Are you using i Google?
New Themes for i google

Google have taken the theme approach one step further and now it is possible to create your own theme to share with the world.

A blogger client recently asked me to create an i google theme to compliment his web site. I put together a dynamic theme which features "Mr Bison" at his computer oblivious to the happening around him. The theme changes 5 times during the day.



I have had some great feedback from users who have installed this theme

"THIS is the kind of creativity we should see in these themes! Thanks for putting some thought into & taking the time to *create* something original! Nice use of colors, too. Outstanding!"

"Great colors . . . easy on the eyes. A super creative theme. Thanks, Zoe Feast, for making my Google a happier place!"

To customize your i google page Click here for the "Mr Bison's Day" theme.

Eye of a St Louis Web Designer

Valentine's Day illustration by the St Louis web designer

What does it take to become a successful web designer?

I was appraoched recently by the Rockwood School district about attending a Middle school career fair to talk about a career as a web site designer. I thought it would be a great way to give something back to the community.

I am putting together a presentation and thought I would share with you today the characteristics it takes to become a successful web designer.

• Creative Ability



• Technical aptitude



• Eye for detail



• Ability to improvise and problem solve



• Love of learning…the internet is an evolving field with new technologies being introduced all the time. Web design is not a field where you can consider your learning ”done”



• Self starter…staying abreast of new technologies, design trends etc.



• Good communication and people skills



• Knowing your strength: With so many technologies available you will have more success with and in depth knowledge of a handful rather than knowing a little of all of them.



• Ability to multitask

Color Creativity and Inspiration for Web Site Design

When working on a web design project, inspiration can come from many sources. Estabilshing a color palette is often where I begin and a great resource is COLOURlovers

COLOURlovers is a color and design community that offers a wealth of resources for picking colors and staying on top of color trends and is great for kick starting inspiration.

"Business contact manager has encountered a problem and needs to close"

Don't you just hate it when you computer goes wrong. I have had my fair share of computer glitches already this year. Maybe I am getting them all over and done with in January and the rest of the year will be plain sailing.

Yesterday I upgraded my version of Quick Books resulting in a complete melt down of Outlook. It would not open and every time I tried I was greeted with the message.

"Business contact manager has encountered a problem and needs to close"

It has taken me 5 hours to sort this problem out but only thanks to an excellent post I found on Google Anwsers

I was so thankful for the advice I thought it worthy of a link just in case anyone else is encountering the same problem. St Louis web designer tip of the day!

Computer Problems Drive You Crazy?

About a month ago I needed to renew a subscription to Symantec for my Norton anti virus protection. When directed to the renew page the price to simply renew was the same price to upgrade to the latest and greatest protection, Norton Internet Security 2008. A no brainer ..I upgraded and spent the next 20 minutes or so downloading, installing and rebooting.

A week ago I get a message from the application telling me my product required activation but my current activation key has been used too many times and is no longer valid. I can connect to the internet but have no protection from all the nasties out there.

Time for a call to technical support ...and the number of hoops to have to jump through before you reach the magic tech support number or the 20 minute queue before the phone was answered was enough to make even the most patient person crazy.

But I have to say once my call had been answered the service was amazing. The tech guy asked me a few basic questions and then asked if I would grant him remote access to my computer. He logged in and did lots of geeky test to figure out the problem. It took him 15 minutes and successfully sourced the problem and fixed it. There is no way this could have been accomplished the old fashioned way with tech support directing you to click here and there. Progress at last for technical support!

Our approach to designing web sites

We follow a very methodical process in the creation of web site , here is a simple description of our process...what I like to call the 4 D's


Phase 1 : Define
During this stage we learn from our clients the full scope of their project.

• What do they want to achieve with the website?
• Who is the target audience?
• Who is the competition?

Armed with this information a tactical plan is developed and a full proposal produced to proceed with the project.
This phase of any project is always FREE

Phase 2 : Design
Keeping in mind usability and good web practices a polished concept design is created. This is a collaborative phase where client's feedback is used to refine the design and helps us "home in" on the optimimal "winning" concept design.
Our tools of chice for the design phase are Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Phase 3: Develop
The "pictures" created in the design phase comes to life in the development phase of the project. The designs are coded to be understood by web browsers and undergo strict testing to ensure cross browser compatibility. Any functionailty assocaited with a web site is added during this stage.

Phase 4: Deploy
Once the site is complete it is ready to be launched online. The site is uploaded to a hosting account and publicised to the world.

Color and Productivity

I recently experienced first hand how the color of your surroundings can affect your productivity.
My office is painted a soft pale green, "Adratic Mist" according to the paint pot, and creates a great relaxing enviroment where I can focus to my fullest.

In a moment of craziness a few months back I decided that a change was in order and I wanted to funk things up a bit with a jazzier more energetic color. As a graphic designer I love color, I selected a yellowish green " Cabbage green" and got to work.

It took me just a day after I had finished to acknowlege what a huge mistake I had made. I was unable to concentrate at all and very distracted by the color bouncing around the room. I lived with it for about a week thinking I would get used to it ... but no. The office got re painted the very next weekend.

Web Design Projects: Testimonials

I have had some nice compliments of the last couple of weeks for two of the sites I have lauched this year.

The first was for The Rockwood and came from Nathan Shurtleff of RetirementCommunity.com

"nice site design...I have seen quite a few websites geared toward seniors and The Rockwood is one of the best, nice color, good layout and most important... easy to navigate."

The Senior Vice President of the Rockwood agreeed:

"I also certainly agree that you have done a fabulous job with the website...we have gotten many compliments on it as well."

Then today a nice testimonial from Loomis Bros:-

So far, we've had good response to our new website. Thanks so much for all of your help and patience!

Happy clients make me a happy web designer!

Graphic Designer Satisfaction

As a graphic designer one of the most satisfying moments is when you finally see the designs you have been working on in their finished form.
Yesterday a client from Building Products Corp dropped by with a binder and tabs set I designed for then a while back... his comments were "Everything has been printed and looks amazing "
I dont want to appear boastful but I have to agree!

Your blog voice

In a post I wrote last week I talked about creating branded blogs and mentioned we were currently creating one for St Louis based Throttlenet.

The blog is now up and running, visit it here>> ThrottleBlog

Throttlenet have their blog set up so various team members can contribute, which is a great approach for a multi faceted corporation. It will give the blog a very rounded "voice".

We have two "voices" on this blog me..St Louis Web Designer and St Louis Marketing Executive

We have very different styles but that is exactly how a blog should be. Each contributor has a unique voice and personality, and brings to the blog something that no one else can.

It takes time to develop a blog voice but the more you write the more your style and voice will evolve.

Updating our web design portfolio

We have had a very busy summer and although much of our work is featured on our blog, there has been a bit of a backlog of projects which had not been added to our portfolio. Until now!

Our web design portfolio is now up to date and features six galleries. Visit it here. Most of the newer projects are in gallery 6.

Our print design portfolio will be updated next week.

A Selection of our St Louis Blog Clients

Blogs have become a great way to interect with your site visitors, providing them with fresh news, stories and events. A blog can be easily added to an exisiting web site and requires no technical knowledge to use.

Very often the blog will be the first page visited on your web site and your first opportunity to present your visitor with your brand image. If you use one the standard templates offered with say Google Blogger, your blog might have all the functionality you wish but the opportunity to engange your visitor with your brand lost . As the saying goes you only have one chance to make a first impression.

We specialize in creating a blog which compliments your brand image.

Here are two example of our blog work in action:-

Citizens for Modern Transit Working to expand St Louis Metrolink ..topical issues

Cynthia Reeg News from children's author Cynthis Reeg

Also in development are blogs for two other St Louis based companies, Throttlenet and Loomis Bros.

Eye of a St Louis Web Designer

More beach designing. Even on vacation, The St Louis Web Designer is compelled to create. A beach is like a fresh canvas every day ...these pebble towers were fun to build.

Email Phishing

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths email scammers will go to persaude you to divulge personal information ...the techno term is Phishing.

The emails can be constructed to look like they have come from your bank, credit card company etc, with branded graphical elements and links that look like they are going to take you to the bona fide web site.

If you follow the links you reach what appears to be the bona fide site ... it will have been designed exactly like the real thing. Enter your user name and password and bingo the scammer has your personal information that can be used on the genuine site.

The best policy is to be highly suspicious of any email asking you to log in via a link within the email.

Web site testimonial

I had some great feedback from a client, Schilli Plastering, yesterday whose site we launched at the begining of the year.

"Things have been going great with the new site, we are getting bid request almost daily. It has worked wonderfully."

A happy client makes me a happy web site designer!

Visit http://www.schilliplastering.com/ and see the great selection of pools they have plastered.

A STL Today Blog Poll

Topical poll today from STL Today:

Do you read or write a blog online?

Here are the results at 5.45pm on Wednesday

27% - I read one or more

2% - I write one or more

16% - I do both

54% - I don't do either

Vote for Missouri's New License Plate Design

Here is your chance to vote for the design of Missouri's new Licence plate. There are three designs to select from and voting closes on March 5th 2007.
http://dory.dor.mo.gov/dor/voteplate/index.asp

First impressions and web sites

First impressions count. Within a few seconds of a new encounter you are sized up, evaluated and appraised. This first impression process occurs in every new situation from meeting a new person to visiting an unfamiliar web site ... and once the intial impression is made it is virtually irreversible.

So what first impression does your web site give to your visitors? Does it intrigue or discenchant? Does it deliver your message with style and substance? Is it cluttered or clean? Are you giving your visitors too much of mental workout with poorly designed navigation?

If your web site is not giving your company the first impression it deserves then we can help. Contact us today.

Techno Trouble: Cell phone Virus

My work as a web designer has meant that over the years I have embraced technology and all that it can offer. That includes learning the best efforts to protect my systems from those annoying viruses.

I recently purchased a new cell phone..just a basic phone...it can't take photographs...I have a camera for that, it doesn't play music. Last week the phone started misbehaving. Instead of playing a ringtone when I had a call it alerted me by a single beep. Thinking I had messed up the settings I reset the ring tone. But still it just beeped whenever I had a call and I was missing a lot of them.

I finally took it back to the store where they told me all my ring tones had been corrupted..probably beacuse of a virus! They replaced my phone and now everything is ok again

The Internet Archive

Inspiration for web design projects comes from many sources, it can be a photograph, a branding element or even a navigational panel you remember seeing on a site a year back. Revisiting sites that have sparked inspiration can sometimes be frustrating if the element you want to review has gone because the site has been redesigned.

Fear not, your inspirational site has not turned into cyber dust thanks to a great system called "The internet archive". The Internet archive offers a "wayback machine" allowing you to browse through 55 billion web pages archived or cached from 1996, capturing all the designs ever used for a site. So that inspirational element you were looking for is probably there!


http://www.archive.org/web/web.php