Whoops to my subscribers

I was a little preemptive yesterday in assuring all my subscribers that everything was taken care of.

To carry on reading all of our new please subscribe via this link HERE.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Indigo Thoughts: the blog of a St Louis web designer

Indigo Thoughts has moved. Click here to read our latest news.

Our subscribers
First of all thank you! and secondly you don't need to do anything to carry on receiving our feed, it's all been taken care of behind the scenes.

Eye of the St Louis Web Designer

At last some long awaited warm weather here in St Louis and everything is suddenly in bloom. Some treats from the St Louis web designer's garden.





2010 © St Louis Web Designer

Eye of the St Louis web designer (in Chicago)

I tweeted about this Squirrel I spotted on a visit to Chicago this week and here is the proof. Even squirrels in Chicago eat pizza, and not just a scrap, this one has a whole slice!



2010 © St Louis Web Designer

Can you see bluish yellow or reddish green?

While at the airport on my way to Chicago last weekend I picked up the Feb issue of Scientific America. It's always a good read and I was particularly intrigued by an article on impossible colors, colors that we are not supposed to see. Can you imagine a reddish green (greenish red) or yellowish blue (bluish yellow).

You can read about the theory here but cut to the chase and do these simple tests below to see the colors for yourself.
Instructions

1. Click on each of the graphics below, this will bring up a much larger image in a new browser.
2. Hold a finger in front of your nose and focus intently on it. This will cross your eyes.
3. Slowly remove your finger from view
4. On your screen you will see three boxes. The middle box will show the impossible color, a bluish yellow or a reddish green. Make sure the crosses line up.

Can you see yellowish blue?




Can you see reddish green ?





It took me a while to master the visualization technique but it is a bit like doing the magic eye pictures. The key to seeing the colors is to hold the cross steady. They are pretty unstable and seem to flick in and out but they are definitely colors I have never seen before.

How about you, can you see them?

2010 © St Louis Web Designer

Eye of the St Louis web designer in Chicago

I have had an incredibly busy week, working on web and logo projects and meeting with five new prospective clients. All is good but only now on Friday afternoon have I found a few minutes to write a blog post.

I spent a fabulous few days in Chicago last weekend and the view from the place I stayed was definitely eye candy for the St Louis web designer (or should that be "the Chicago web designer")
You can see lake Michigan in the distance which was encrusted with "icebergs"



2010 © St Louis Web Designer

How to hire a website designer

Hiring a web design company can be a daunting task. Here are three steps to make it a little easier.

The Planning

• What are your internet goals. Setting your objectives is the foundation of any project and creating a web site is no exception.
• Create a "must have" list. For example it may be really important that your site include a blog or that it is configured so you can maintain it yourself.
• Got some ideas on the architecture of your site? Get out a pad of paper and pencil and create a rough sketch
• Don't be intimidated to do a little research, e.g Check  Godaddy to see if can you get the domain name you want.
• Get online and start browsing, bookmark sites you like, they don't have to be in the same sector as your business or organization but this exercise will help determine what appeals to you and also enable to articulate your design preferences.
• Check out your competition

The Search

• Try a simple Google search for your area. Here are the results for St Louis web design.
  
• Word of mouth, ask members of your business network if there is anyone they can recommend.
• Found a web site you really like? Very often a web design company will have a simple link at the bottom of the site directing visitors to their web site.
• Draw up a shortlist of design companies you would be interested in meeting.

The Meeting

• Arrange to meet three design companies.
• The research you have already done will put you in a great position to talk about the specifics of your project.
• Do they seek to understand your business?
• Are they goal/objective driven?
• Do they listen?
• Ask to see a portfolio of their work. Does it show a diversity of style or does everything look the same? 
• Do they know their limits or will they try and sell you "everything"
• Discuss the creative process they follow. Is it flexible?
• Do they seem like a good fit for your project, do you feel a connection?
• Will you enjoy working with them?
• Ask them to put together a comprehensive web design proposal which outlines all the specifics of your project, pricing and terms and conditions.

You're Hired!

The contract is signed, the deposit  paid and the project  is well underway. Is it time to site back and relax? Next time I will talk about how to work with your web designer.

2010 © St Louis Web Designer

Eye of the St Louis Web Designer

Fabulous spirals in an ice sculpture down in The Loop this past weekend.



2010 © St Louis Web Designer

Zoe Feast Web and Graphic Designer

I have an usual name, Zoe Feast. That's Zoe with a long "eeee" sound at the end and Feast pronounced Feast... as in Thanksgiving Feast. It really is that easy!

As a self marketing project I have made use of my name and launched ZoeFeast.com today. It follows the lines of a " business card website", inspired by this great blog post. A simple, one page portal to my networks and company.

I broke away from my Indigo Image corporate brand image for this project and enjoyed the creative freedom.

What unique aspect do you have with which to market your business?

2010 © St Louis Web Designer

St Louis Web Designer's question of the day: Do you provide web hosting?

Do you provide web hosting? This is one of my popular "Frequently Asked Questions".

The short answer is no, but the long answer is yes.

We are a web design company not a web hosting company and are happy to leave the intricacies of web hosting to the experts. However we can work with any web host of our clients choosing (or recommend a hosting company). This is a seamless process for our clients and all the nuts and bolts of getting a site live are taken care of. Once their site is ready we will open a hosting account suitable for their needs, upload all the files, configure email addresses and make sure their domain names are pointing to the right place.

This one stop shop type service is what most clients are wondering when they ask "Do you provide web hosting"

2010 © St Louis Web Designer

Free Vector Graphic: Winter Theme Pattern

In honor of the "great snowfall" we are due over the next 36 hours, here in St Louis, here is a free vector graphic of a repeating pattern with a winter theme. The great land of Twitter is busy speculating inches. Snow anyone?



2010 © St Louis Web Designer

A decade in Business for the St Louis Web Designer

Happy New Year! 2010 will see Indigo Image, home of the St Louis web designer, celebrate 10 years in business! It is a milestone we are extremely proud of, showing that we can not only survive but thrive in this highly competitive market.

We have had lots of really great clients over the last decade but have a particular soft spot for our very first client "Jacqueline's Journeys". The web site is no longer active but I will always be grateful to Jacqueline for putting her trust in us to build her online presence.

So we are looking forward to what the next 10 years will bring, the clients we will meet and the new technological tools in our "tool box".

2010 © St Louis Web Designer

Holiday Greetings from the St Louis Web Designer.

I like to produce a digital holiday card for my customers each year and this year have spiced it up with a custom video produced using xtranormal. "If you can type you can make movies". Its a great application and easy use. You can select from a whole bundle of characters, give them different accents set the background, camera angles, make them move and apply ambient sounds... and all for FREE. What's not to love about that.

So sit back and enjoy my little message from this fabulous green robot ( he has an English accent of course). I think I may have to make him my mascot!

400 Blog Posts! A St Louis web designer milestone

I was pretty impressed to reach the 200 blog post milestone, delighted to reach 300 blog posts and today celebrate our 400th post milestone.



It takes time, effort and dedication to write regularly but is worth the reward! What better way to start a Monday morning in St Louis.

2009 © St Louis Web Designer

Eye of the St Louis web designer: Thankful

I have lived in the USA for 13 years and in all that time have always celebrated Thanksgiving. Its a good excuse for a slap up dinner so what not to celebrate despite my English origins. However this year is my first Thanksgiving as an American Citizen so it is a little more special than usual.

The list of things I am thankful for is long but where my business is concerned here are three things.

• My education that has allowed me start and operate my own business - about to embark on my 10th year!


• In the midst of a recession business is good and steady


• The opportunity to work with some really great people

What are you thankful for?

2009 © St Louis Web Designer

Eye of a St Louis web designer: Support our Troops

Here is the St Louis Web designer's plug of the week.

Hotshots is currently collecting requested items to send to our boys and girls overseas.

Where: Any Hotshots Location, bulk donation taken at the Fenton location

What: Snacks & Entertainment items are always the #1 request. See the Hotshots web site for full list

2009 © St Louis Web Designer

ipod earbuds fall out of my ears. Do yours?

Music can often be a great inspiration to me when I am in designing and my ipod is always on my desk. However, hands up if your ipod earbuds fall out of your ears? Mine do, the standard ipod earbuds were swiftly replaced with an in-ear pair but I still have problems with "fall out".

A St Louis company, Yurtopia™ has come up with a fabulous novel product to end this misery: the yurbuds™. They convert the standard ipod earbuds to custom fitting earbuds which are not only more comfortable but they DO NOT FALL OUT!

A pair costs just $19.99

Visit

www.yurbuds.com

and get free shipping with this code: QF5SG






2009 © St Louis Web Designer

Selecting a web designer.

Selecting a web designer to work on your project can be a daunting task. Where to start?

A Google search? The phrase "St Louis web designer" yields a whopping 2,270,000 returns. Clicking through and visiting the sites on just the first pages can be overwhelming (as a result of excellent SEO we do feature on that page!) Once on the sites you can check out the portfolio, evaluate the skill set of the company but often the most telling way to get a feel if they are a company you'd feel comfortable working with is to see if there are any client testimonials.

Here is glowing testimonial from St Louis celebrant, Ruth Hasser, www.ruthellenhasser.com which really speaks volumes about how we can help clients with their projects.

"Zoe Feast worked with me every step of the way to design and optimize my first website. She listened to me, understood what I was going for, was wonderfully patient with my inexperience, and delivered what I needed in a professional and timely manner. As a result I get regular compliments on my website and, more importantly, customers are finding me! I will continue to rely on her expertise and thoughtful support. Thanks so much, Zoe."

Thanks Ruth for taking the time to write this!

Interested in more client testimonials ?

© St Louis web designer

Eye of the St Louis Web Designer

There is something so tactile about a carpet of moss, which is abundance in St Louis at the moment after our recent abundance of rain.
I love the variation of textures in this photograph, the simplest of pictures often serve as a great inspiration source when designing new websites.



© 2009 St Louis Web Designer

Eye of the St Louis Web Designer

Fall is undoubtedly here in St Louis.

Eye of a St Louis web designer

Today marks a very special day for the St Louis web designer. My husband and I were sworn in as American citizens.

Here we are with Honorable Frederick R. Buckles, who presided over the ceremony and led us through the Oath of Allegiance.

Eye of a St Louis web designer

One box of old, but loved chalk pastels + a spare 30 minutes = A splash of color for my office wall.

Ways to unwind by the St Louis web designer.

St Louis web designer recipe for R & R

As much as I love my job as a St Louis web and graphic designer there comes a point, when I need a break.

Great beach house found and booked online:
Flights booked online:
Great deal on rental car with Internet coupon:
Airport parking redeemed with points online:

Getting away from the Internet for a whole week ... PRICELESS

Eye of the St Louis web Designer

This week has seen me multi task on nine different design projects. Jumping from logo design to web design, updating client web sites and sales calls.

On this beautiful St Louis morning I took a little time to visit my garden ahead of all the hustle and bustle of the day- it is my antidote to the digital world. I would rather be pottering around among my flowers than twittering any day!

This is a self seeded Morning Glory enjoying the morning sunshine. By this afternoon it will be gone but I will be treated to another spectacular display tomorrow.

St louis Web Designers To Do List

A steamy Monday morning here in St Louis and lots to do:

• One branding and website proposal to write
• Two logos to complete
• Three current customers to call regarding new projects
  
• Four prospects to follow up on
  
• Five web sites in various stages of production

What's on your "to do" list today?

A brand color palette. Eye of a St Louis web designer

A few weeks ago these beautiful irises were in full bloom in my St Louis garden. Notice anything about the colors in this photograph? They are essentially the palette of colors we use in our brand.

I love using nature as an inspiration during web and graphic design projects and as this image shows a simple photograph is sometimes all you need to build a great color palette from which to work.



St Louis web designer tip of the day

St Louis web designer tip of the day: Give your blog a boost

Blogs are a great way to promote your services, improve your search engine ranking and provide a great way to interact with your readers.

Here are some quick tips to give your blog a boost and grow your readership

1. Write it regualry - at least twice a week.
2. Comment on other blogs- in the comments box there is often an opportunity to include your own website or blog URL.
3. Title your blog posts with keywords you are targeting.
4. Submit your blog to a blog directory such as blogcatalog
5. Give your readers different options to subscribe to your content. e.g. sign up through a reader - try Goggle Reader or sign up to receive via email.
6. Start a Twitter account and use it to promote new blog posts.
7. Use a free pinging service such as Pingoat

St Louis web designers tip of the day!

Eye of the St Louis Web Designer

I love the fact my job as a web and graphic designer allows me to indulge my creativity but sometimes it is fun to apply those creative skills to something completely different.

I brought my painting talents to this backdrop for Wildwood Dance and Arts.



It was completed this afternoon and will feature in a dance production of Peter Pan this Saturday, May 16th at Chesterfield YMCA. There are two shows at 2.30pm and 7pm. Tickets are available on the door.

Are you all blogged out? St Louis Web Designer's tip of the day

If you are blogging for business, pleasure or both there will be days /weeks, when you come up empty in creating that next killer blog post. Welcome to Bloggers Block .

Here are some of the tips I use to keep those creative juices flowing.

1. Keep a running list of blog post ideas and add to it frequently - skim over your list and pick something that appeals to you.

2. Think about recent interactions with clients. What types of questions have they asked. Can they be worked into a blog post?

3. Got a new client, launched a new project or service? Blow your own trumpet and blog about it.

4. Flick though a magazine or newsletter relevant to your business, industry or organization. An image or article may be all the inspiration needed.

5. Member of any social networking sites, Twitter, Facebook LinkedIn? Check what's happening with your friends/followers.

6. Get away from your computer. Sitting in front of a blank"New Post" screen desperately thinking of something to share is not conducive to ideas. Go for a walk, have a cup of coffee, crank up your favorite music on your ipod.

7. Find inspiration from the natural world...everything from systems, processes, life cycles, shapes color, texture

8. Lastly don't sweat! While posting to a blog regularly is important missing the odd day or even week is not the end of the world.
   

Are you getting the most of the visual elements of your brand ?

The visual elements of your brand are typically classified as

• Your Logo

• Typography – font face, sizes

• Color Palette – primary and secondary colors

• Imagery- photographs, illustration and their styles

• Personality

Here are the visual elements of the Indigo Image brand and examples of how we use them to create a consistent image.

Ideally your brand elements should be present on all forms of communication, your web site, business cards, letterhead, envelopes, email signature even on your social network profiles like LinkedIn and Twitter.
Don't miss an opportunity to make your brand work for you.

Web Design Updates for Indigo Image

Back in February I mentioned our web site was undergoing a freshen up. Client work always comes first so it has taken until the middle of April to roll out the changes. But today is the day!

While the overall design has not dramatically changed we have focused on usability issues. Our home page now features our RSS feed and a dynamic portfolio navigator. The entire portfolio section has been reworked and all logo and graphic design pieces are presented as a slide show format for easy viewing.

The portfolio has been split into the following sections

• Web Design - with 3 galleries of web site, email templates, landing page, banner ads etc
• Logo Design
• Graphic Design -with 3 galleries of business cards, letterheads, flyers, trifolds, menus etc
• Complete Branding - with six galleries of branding projects
  

We have also taken the opportunity to update our blog template and create a custom background for the STLwebdesign Twitter page

Web Site Testimonial from St Louis Associates in OBGYN

Hearing this kind of feedback makes it all worth while!

Working with Zoe at Indigo Image was an extremely positive experience. Her prompt communication and professionalism truly made our web page development a breeze. Not only was the development process easy for us, her creativity continues to bring our practice's best face forward. We are extremely grateful for all of her hard work and unique creative touch! Thank you!

Jessica Kliethermes
Associates in OB/GYN, Inc.

www.snowdenmd.com

This is not a web project

I recently turned my design skills to something other than web sites. It was an interesting project, the creative brief was to construct a crocodile costume for 4 dancers. The costume will be used in the production of Peter Pan by Wildwood Dance and Arts.

Here is the head (made of sculpture wire and papier mache) which will be held by the lead dancer, the three other dancers will be draped in fabric and the 4th dancer has a tail.
It was a lot of fun to make!

Updates to our web site

We have been swamped with work this week, a big SEO project, client web maintenance, and juggling 5 design projects, so the updates to our web site I announced last week are not going to happen...just yet. They are however well underway. If I can roll them out before the end of March I will be happy.

It is good to be busy, especially in this economic climate!

The time commitment of blogging: St Louis web designers tip of the day

Blogging can be a great tool to add to your marketing mix. It can improve the visibility of your online presence and allow easy interaction with your clients and site visitors.

For small business owners serious about getting their sites to perform well in the search engines (internet marketing, SEO) I generally suggest adding a blog if … and this is a “big if”, they can devote the time to write it. A new blog will require at least two to three post a week for the first few months to get it rolling and at least one per week after that.

There is no way you can cheat either. I subscribed a year or so back to a blog which, until the weekend, appeared to be dead. However over the last few days posts have been rolling into my reader from this blog, all post dated. To readers new to the blog it looks like the blog has been updated on a regular basis …but the search engines will know better.

Coming up with regular fresh content can be a challenge, but you most definitely “reap what you sow”

The St Louis web designer Tip of the day

Web Design Work in Progress

I am currently multi tasking on seven web design projects in various stages of production, from design conceptualizations, basic coding, to search engine optimization. The clients range from Dr's to bar owners, lawyers to contractors. I am wearing many hats and work best like this!

On top of that I am in the process of freshening up our web site and hope to roll out the changes next week. Our portfolio has suffered recently with lack of updates so I will have all that fixed too.

Watch out for changes in this blog next week.

St Louis web designer features in iGoogle Love stories

Last week I recorded a short video about why "I love my iGoogle page". It is now one of the featured video stories.
Check it out here. My video is title "Why I love iGoogle"

Eye of a St Louis Web Designer

It's fun to turn my design skills from the web to another medium. Take a look at these "designer" cup cakes I created for my daughter's 11th birthday party last week.


Yum Yum ...although I didn't actually get to sample one as they were all gobbled up very quickly by the party guests.

Eye of a St Louis Web Designer

The eye of the St Louis web designer photo of the day.
Can anyone guess what these are? Post your guess in the comments area.

Gift Tags Freebie: seasonal graphic design fun

Here is a set of custom gift tags designed using Adobe Illustrator which you can download for FREE print them out on your desktop printer. A St Louis Web Designer freebie

Have you met the Boffins?

Enjoy a day in the lab with the boffins and watch as their experiments go wrong

Set your i Google page to The Boffins

St Louis Web Designer tip of the day

I recently started using Skype to call my family back home in the UK, resulting in a substantial reduction of my phone bill.
Its allows you to make calls over the internet, is easy to use and as an added bonus you can have a true video call.

To get started visit Skype.com, download the application and create an account. Calls between Skype users are free!

Today’s tip from the St Louis Web Designer

A web/graphic designer to do list

It has been over a week since I wrote a post so you’d think I would be loaded with topics to write about. It appears not.

I have a pretty heavy work load at the moment with:-

• Nine web sites in various stage of development – clients ranging from Attorneys to Doctors, retailers to printers.



• Two print projects - A tri fold brochure and business card design.



• A web usability design project



• An email template project



• A couple of web banner

I think I need a weekend!

Eye of a St Louis Web Designer

The fall colors have been fabulous in St Louis this year. There is nothing like color in nature to inspire creativity.

1. Start with a colorful photograph
2. Sample the photograph to build a palette of colors
3. Use your palette to design a quick fun graphic



Todays tip from the St Louis web designer

Eye of a St Louis Web Designer

Here is a quiz from the St Louis web designer. Where in the St Louis area would you find this wall?

Feedback from i google theme designs

I took a look recently at how popular the themes I have created for i Google are and got a pleasant suprise.

Perfect Petals has had rave reviews and proves to be the most popular:

Perfectly Brilliant Elizabeth Deal - Jul 18, 2008 - Thank you for such a beautious theme. I love the brilliant color on a black background. I truely love it!

Breathtaking Anonymous - Sep 10, 2008 - I love coming in everyday and opening my google site to this beautifully displayed flowers--it starts the day off right.

Color Punch also has some fabulous comments:

Brava Brava Dolce2001@aol.com - Aug 2, 2008 - Thank you, Zoe Feast, for creating this truly unique, beautifully colored and visually pleasing accent for an iGoogle homepage. It's not just the colors that I like, it's the design that accents them. Well done!

Outstanding! - Anonymous - Jul 5, 2008 - Very impressive..and easily worth a 5 star rating. Hope to see more of your stuff! Well done.

Thanks you to everyone who has taken the time to rate and comment on the themes.

Printing coupon: Save $75 off your next printing project

Here is a great offer from printingforless.com

Visit their web site or call 800.930.6040 and by mention referal code RP1I8DF78  and you save $75 off your first order.

A St Louis Web Designer freebie of the day

Eye of a St Louis Web Designer

Ok... here is a little pop quiz today from the Eye of the St Louis web designer. Take a look at the picture below. Where in St louis would you find this fabulous burst of color?

Eye Of a St Louis Web Designer

Every season brings a new palette of colors and when I sliced open a beautiful St Louis grown watermelon last night I was greeted by this explosion of color. It tasted as good as it looks!

Eye of a St Louis Web Designer

As weeks go if I compare last week with this week, they are like chalk and cheese.

This week has been a whirl wind of activity. I secured contracts for three new web sites, started design work on said sites, juggled all exisiting projects...currently numbering 13. I have jumped around from logo design to seo work to brochure design, web site population, web site design...

As a contrast last week was a week of complete relaxation on the Oregon coast...such a great place to go especially when it was 90+ deg. here in St Louis.



After this week I feel in need of another vacation already!

Pixel Perfect Coding

Two of my projects last week moved out of the design phase and into the coding phase.
It is during this phase that the non functional design created are sliced up and reconstructed into into fully functional web pages albeit void of content. Content population comes next.


During this intial coding phase our pages are tested, tested and tested again to ensure they perform well across all user platforms and browsers. In a perfect world all browsers would render a coded page exactly the same way ...but this is not the case. Browsers can introduce gaps and spaces into a design. A web design which displays seemlessley when viewed with internet Explorer can have gaps and spaces when view with Firefox.

We employ a standard of pixel perfect coding ...a design will display seemlessly whatever browser it is viewed on. We achieve this though the slicing logic used in cutting up our designs and careful coding with hacks where necessary.

Eye of a St Louis web designer

I took the afternoon off work yesterday and indulged myself in my garden.
For many, yard work is a chore, but for me dabbling in the garden is a good way to unwind from the rigors of being the St Louis web designer!
Here is a photo of a beautiful Lacecap Hyrangea just about to burst into flower. I have had this shrub for three years and this is the first it has produced any flowers.

Eye of a St Louis Web Designer

Fabulous purple flowers on a beautiful late spring day in St Louis

Eye of a St Louis web designer

How's this for a birds eye view of a cardinal's nest built right outside my kitchen window. The mother has been sitting on the nest for about a week now and get food visits from the dad to be...he feeds her baby style.



Last year we had a robin's nest in the same place and it was fun to watch the babies being fed. I will post more pictures as these new St Louis cardinal babies hatch.

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.

Eye of a St Louis web designer

Yummy... How about this fabulous tray of profiteroles made by my 10 year old daughter, with a little assistance, for my recent birthday.



More than eye candy for the eye of the St Louis web designer!