Posts Tagged ‘design’

A funny video featuring everyone’s favorite fonts in a conference. Watch as they battle Ransom Note to get Courier back. Thanks, Comic Sans! (I never thought I’d ever be thanking that horrible font.)

Technorati Tags: collegehumor, design, font, fonts, funny, humor, video

As I mentioned earlier, Target was going to get sued for not having an accessible website. As it turns out, they settled for $6 million.

I don’t like fearmongering to line web professionals’ pockets. But this is opening up a serious need to ensure that your website is accessible. I believe that we all have a moral responsibility to be handicap accessible in the first place, so this is a great first step!

If you’re still not quite sure what the true impact of accessibility is, I recommend this video from University of Wisconsin-Madison about screen readers. It’ll change the way that you look at web accessibility.

Technorati Tags: accessibility, assistive technologies, design, screen readers, target, web accessibility

This video shows you what you get when you design by committee. While funny and a little absurd, there is a lot of truth that rings from it.

Committees are OK for some things, but not subjective things like the design process.

Take it from experience. In terms of Internet Marketing, the worst thing that you can do is design a website by committee. The fewer the people involved in the process, the better.

Technorati Tags: Design, design, internet marketing, video

I submitted a support ticket on behalf of a client today in their e-commerce system. After filling in the fields and submitting the form, I got this message:

At first, I thought I had made a mistake. An exclamation point icon? Bold red text? All of these visual cues tell a completely different story than what the message says.

What do your messages really say in context with visuals? And do you really want for your message to make someone feel undeserved panic, even if it’s just for a couple seconds?

Technorati Tags: design, marketing, Technology, usability, web usability

I have a reversible belt that lets me flip it so that it’s either black or brown. Recently, it started squeaking whenever I walk while wearing it. This squeaking is starting to annoy me so much that I wish I would have bought 2 separate belts instead.

This is the kind of trade-off that you need to make when designing a product or service. Do you really focus on a single problem and be the best at it, or do you provide more utility at the cost of adding more complexity?

Ask yourself this. Are you a well-design SUV? Or are you the Homer Simpson car? What kinds of trade-offs can you make to provide a more delightful experience? Is answering every feature request that comes your way destroying your focus?

There’s a balance.

Technorati Tags: design, homer, homer simpson, product design, Strategy, the simpsons

What questions do you have about running a web site? SEO? Internet marketing in general?

You have questions, I have answers!

Technorati Tags: design, internet marketing, marketing, seo

Most web designers and web developers ignore accessibility. Now that Target is being sued for not having an accessible web site, the bar is going to be raised for your own site as well. Yes, this is yet another thing to worry about. And no, you should not half-ass it.

If you cater to those with visual impairments, then you will also reap benefits from the world’s most famous blind user: Google. I kid you not.

HTML, the document format of web pages, was designed to be consumed by those with vision impairments, not just by those of us with good eyesight. Once again, everyone has gotten lazy and hasn’t learned how to truly use HTML for this purpose. I’m going to point out a few things that should be done to help improve your site’s accessibility. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: accessibility, best practices, compliance, design, google, html, jaws, screen readers, section 508, seo, shockwave, target, w3c, wai, web, web accessibility, web writing, Writing

Over the course of my career, I’ve been obsessed with best practices. Be they best practices for writing code or for separating responsibilities, I’ve always had dreams of running that well-oiled marketing and technology machine.

If you’re just starting out in working with an internet marketer, you may be a little uncomfortable in knowing what your role is vs. what your internet marketer’s role is. You don’t want to come across as a micro-manager, but you also own the work that you’re paying for, right?

From my side of the table, here’s what I see as the line in the sand for responsibilities. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: design, internet, internet marketing, marketing, Search Marketing, seo, web, web marketing

I’m working on building an elaborate marketing and e-commerce system. I just don’t feel like anyone has done it right, so I’m taking a stab at it.

Here’s why I think the other software vendors have done such a poor job: lack of design in their process. I intend to make a system that’s pleasant and easy to use, that “gets out of the way” of users’ tasks. And I’m not going to get there without design. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: business, design, management, mission, Strategy, vision

Now you can provide your graphic designer with your own color palette, using Adobe Labs’s Kuler. Kuler makes creating a color palette easier than you can imagine. Hell, you may even find yourself having fun with it! Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: adobe, color, design, flash, kuler, palette, tool