Have photoshop will design seems to be the motto of many “designers” these days. They have customized some buttons on their blog, created a header and feel on top of the world. So then they start thinking that it could make them some money if they did the same thing for other people. No, no full designs. No, no real research into the user of...
Yesterday I opened the floor to the conversation about web design – and the 10 questions any good web designer should ask. While these are great questions, and extremely important, it is also imperative that you ask your designer questions before you decide to hire them. These questions will help clarify the scope of the work and eliminate a lot of the stress of working with...
Taking the leap from a basic free template blog to a completely custom one that does exactly what you want and looks the way you like is scary. It is also not cheap. So when you make the decision to go custom, you want to make sure you choose someone who knows what they are doing. So how do you know that a designer is any...
Are you looking to hire a web designer for your website or blog? You probably want this to be an easy process, and want it to go as smoothly as possible, right? Well then I suggest avoiding these 5 steps to pissing off your designer:Don’t tell them what you want. Every (good) designer has a questionnaire they fill out about their clients. This includes what...
Yesterday, I covered the first 10 steps in creating a blog mockup in photoshop, today I will be wrapping it up with steps 11-20. When we left off, we were had just finished the header and were ready to move on. If you didn’t do yesterday’s steps, do so now and then come back. If you are ready to move forward, let’s move onto the...
Many people I meet with about designing a site have an idea in mind of colors they want, or a layout that they like. The problem is that they have a tough time putting it into words, and I have often heard, “I just wish I could show you a mini mockup”. A lot of times, they will come to our first meeting with a...
On February 22nd, the Wall Street Journal wrote an article about websites – more to the point – how expensive websites can and can’t be and what the benefit is for the business. The article discussed two female business owners, what they spent for their websites and how the sites were doing for them. Both were running successful businesses, and both had active websites. That’s...
Amanda (@funomenalrealtr) and I were chatting today about blog topics, and I asked her if there was a topic she would like to see covered by me. Her request was for a simple step by step for setting up and starting a blog. There are two different types of bloggers: bloggers who are adding a blog to their already existing website and bloggers who use their...
Blogs. Most businesses and individuals have them, and yet very few of them spend the money or time to get the design customized just for them. They stick with generic themes, maybe add in some sidebar buttons and start writing. Whenever I work with a client, I tend to get the same question in the initial meeting: What should be in a blog design? My...
For those of you who remember, throughout the month of November and December, I spent endless hours and a lot of swearing at my computer, re-designing Wright Creativity. It took me forever to decide on a design, and to make all the elements work. Unfortunately, I am still not happy with it. I absolutely love the background image on my blog, and I love the...
