I don’t know anyone in business who would tell me they would rather chase after clients versus attracting them. How is that possible though? You were probably brought up with the pushy in your face marketing technique, in hopes that you may get a few qualified leads out of the effort. Bad news, the old way of marketing is dead. These days the average consumer is much more intelligent than ever before and you have to break away from the norm in order to get recognized. Read more →
Seems to me lately there have been a number of conversations around the design community pertaining to whether or not web design is considered art. Smashing Magazine had posted a few articles that inadvertently touched on the issue and it has caused quite a stir in conversation. I sat back and thought about it for a minute, and realized that I had never thought of web design as actually being art. Certainly it is an artistic field, the aesthetics and design of a site certainly require the person developing it to have a level of artistic ability to be a success. With that in mind, is what we do for a living actually art? Are web designers as a whole considered artists? Not to my knowledge. I’ve always considered myself a designer when it came to my career personally. But where lies the line between artist and designer? Read more →
We’ve all been there as young designers. Sitting on our parent’s computer, playing with the latest edition of Photoshop Elements trying to figure out how these design rockstars create those amazing websites we find on Most Inspired and The FWA. But what does it take to become a design rockstar? Where do you start?
We all envy the best, its the competitive nature that is preprogrammed into our brains that gives us that desire for something more. Unfortunately for all but a select few there is a long road ahead before people will be envying your work, though not impossible. As a young kid at a computer I spent hours playing with a copy of Photoshop 3 and Microsoft Frontpage. I thought it was incredible that something I make can be seen around the world and I wanted it to look the best I could make it. Read more →
For many small businesses the web seems too impersonal and open to have a local impact. However websites are no longer the static online brochures we saw 10 years ago. Today there are infinite ways to get the information your customers want, in front of them efficiently. This not only drives business, but saves time and effort which means there is an instant return on investment.
Establish Your Goal
Lets use a hypothetical situation to explain exactly what I mean. Say you are the proud owner of “Joe’s Cafe” nestled in a fairly commercial area in the suburbs. Every day you have a number of people coming in for lunch. You run daily specials to entice your customers to keep coming back, as well as invite some local musicians to perform on occasion. Currently you post your specials on the wall for customers to read when they come in, however you are looking for other ways to inform your customers. Read more →