Web Designer - Defining the internet through beautiful design » Blog Beautiful

How to succeed in social media and blogging

Steve Jenkins — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:29:28 +0000

The new Blogger’s Handbook bookazine is the ideal 180 page guide to blogging, micro-blogging and pays homage to all the major platforms.

The Blogger’s Handbook is 180 pages of step-by-step tutorials, features and site showcases spanning the best of WordPress, Twitter, and general blog design. Priced at just £12.99 – it’s the ultimate guide for effective web publishing.

Head to the eShop now to order your copy!

Blog Beautiful: 10 Non-WordPress blogs

Steve Jenkins — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:04:43 +0000

Inspiration comes in many forms in the world of blogging. Here we take a look at a showcase of ten top quality blogs that don’t use WordPress. Enjoy

http://thedept.com

http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com

http://miketerry.blogspot.com

http://kimwheeler.blogspot.com

www.vividotonline.com/blog

http://hunsonisgroovy.com

www.fullfrontalfreelance.com

www.britneyspears.com

www.coolhunting.com

www.bearskinrug.co.uk

The Psychology of Web Design

Steve Jenkins — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:43:16 +0000

On 6 August 1991 in a dimly lit, air-conditioned back room of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), a little NeXT workstation affectionately named ‘Primo II’ blinked away in silence, a tattered paper sticker on the front displaying the warning, “This machine is a server: DO NOT POWER DOWN”.

It hosted http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html where in bold, black lettering, the site told anyone interested exactly what it was about. “The World Wide Web (W3) is a wide-area hypermedia information-retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents. Everything there is online about W3 is linked directly or indirectly to this document.” This was the world’s first website. 11 years previously, physicist Tim Berners-Lee had been working on a project called Enquire, a prototype system that used the concept of hypertext to allow the sharing and updating of information among CERN’s researchers. At this point the internet had become a haven for scientists and academics alike, and by 1989 CERN had become the largest internet node in Europe.

Berners-Lee, by this time a fellow of the organisation, wrote a paper entitled Information Management: A Proposal, an attempt to persuade his managers that a global hypertext system akin to Enquire was in CERN’s interest. It suggested the theory that a web of notes with linkable references could be placed on top of existing computer networks to facilitate remotely accessible ‘linked information systems’. A year later it was approved, and Berners-Lee went about coding the first web browser/editor – aptly named ‘World Wide Web’ – and the first server, httpd (HyperText Transfer Protocol daemon), both of which ran on NeXT systems.

The problem, however, was that NeXT systems were far more advanced than general computing equipment available at the time, thus a much less sophisticated version of the browser software was required. Come Spring the following year, Berners-Lee and his colleague Robert Cailliau were already testing a universal line mode browser able to run on any machine simply by typing commands, allowing anyone with an internet connection to access the web’s information resources. Three days after powering up Primo II with a copy of the server application, he posted an article to the newsgroup alt.hypertext with a short summary of the web and how internet users could take part. “The WWW world consists of documents and links. Indexes are special documents that, rather than being read, may be searched. The result of such a search is another ‘virtual’ document containing links to the documents found. To follow a link, a reader clicks with a mouse (or types in a number if he or she has no mouse).” The link was born.

Five Questions with Calvin Lee of Mayhem Studios

Dave Harfield — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:23:45 +0000

So who’s Calvin Lee? If you’re a designer who’s into social media then you really ought to know…

He’s Principal & Creative Director of Mayhem Studios, an award-winning design firm located in Los Angeles, California, developing identity and brand recognition for the business sector across the United States. He also serves on the Creative Latitude Management Team and boasts a twitter following currently pushing the 20K mark. If that’s not enough then Mr Lee also features in the new book by Steve Gordon jnr titled 100 Habits of Successful Freelance Designers: Insider Secrets for Working Smart & Staying Creative.
Calvin recently took time out from creating identity and branded collateral pieces, annual reports, brochures, logo design, advertising and interactive web sites to share his thoughts and experience with Web Designer magazine. Thanks Calvin.

Links
http://www.mayhemstudios.com/
http://twitter.com/mayhemstudios
http://www.mayhemstudios.com/blog
Creative Latitude Management Team
100 Habits of Successful Freelance Designers: Insider Secrets for Working Smart & Staying Creative

Describe yourself in five words?
Spiky haired designer with Twitter addiction

Which design tool makes the biggest contribution to your creative output and why?
Photoshop is the most used in my creative process. The reason: I’m able to quickly and easily layout a design in a rather short amount of time. The tools within Photoshop are incredible. The ability to restack the layer order, non-destructive filters and effects. Photoshop also has the ability to drop in vector graphics without losing quality. Making changes are a breeze, really speeds up my process.

Tell us what you consider to be the most useful technique in the design/development process?
I always start any project with research, more information the better. Then sketch out small quick thumbnails of my ideas with pen and paper. This really helps me with developing the concepts and layout. I use a pen, so I can’t erase. The point is to explore, as many ideas as possible and not having to worry about how it looks. Once I have the concept nailed down. I jump on the computer.

Web creatives love designer fonts. What’s your favourite and why?
Avant Garde has been my favorite font since I was in college. It has remained my favorite to this day. Avant Garde is elegant, classic and clean. I also like how it’s a bit wider then most fonts, it gives you a much better readability.

What is the one tip that you would give to anyone trying to get into the industry?
Networking is one of the most important tools in finding work, clients and projects. Get the word out to friends, family and anyone you know. Let them know what you do and you’re looking for work. Most times, someone has a connection that will get your foot in the door.
Also sign up for social media websites like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Bizik and portfolio sites. From my experience, Twitter is the best way to network and connect with potential clients.

Live from FOWD 2009

Steve Jenkins — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:44:08 +0000

So, here I am at FOWD 2009. Been trying to post a couple of times, but the wi-fi is very slow. Started the day with a free coffee, thank you Mr Carson. No alcohol until 6pm. The day started with an impromptu session from Danny Somehk, before Jim Coudal took the stage to a packed hall. He had plenty to say, see more in Issue 158. Meet upwith the WooThemes boys, all of them were here. After Mr Coudal we had a session from Meagan Fisher from SimpleBits on the intracacies of mobile web design, very interesting. Meet a Spanish Web designer and the web designer for environment agency. Got ot go more people to meet. Speak to you later.

Blog Beautiful: WooThemes Q&A

Steve Jenkins — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:18:57 +0000

Premium theme creators Woothemes take time to talk to us about what they do and why Wordpress rules the roost.

Adriaan Pienaar – co-founder and designer at WooThemes

Woothemes are creators of undoubtedly beautiful WordPress themes. They currently have a stable of over 20 themes, with more planned for the very near future. We talk to Adriaan Pienaar about WooThemes, WordPress and get a little insight into the world of creating and developing unique WordPress themes to grace the screens of the Web loving masses. You can view the fabulous WooThemes WordPress gallery at woothemes.com and grab your free set of three premium themes on this issue’s cover CD!

WD: Could you tell us a little about WooThemes, who you are and what you do?
AP: WooThemes – a WordPress themes club and marketplace – was founded by myself, Magnus Jepson and Mark Forrester and we’re a little more than a year old now. We basically design and develop a minimum of two WordPress themes every month and then release those templates to our club members or make them available for individual purchases via our website. WooThemes is currently the biggest themes club of its sort (for WordPress) and in future we hope to include templates for other CMS platforms as well.

WD: WordPress has become something of a phenomenon over the last couple of years. How has this affected demand based on your own experiences?
AP: We’ve definitely experienced a very steady (and sustainable) growth in the demand for our themes over the last year. Since WordPress is such an easy-to-use platform, with a community of happy users marketing it, your ‘Average Joe’ online tends to try it out ahead of their other options. So considering that the focus of most WP users are on the ease-of-use thereof, I think we’ve established ourselves with a niche offering (easy-to-use, out-of-the-box themes that can be heavily customised if need be) that has allowed us to grow along with WP’s general growth.

WD: As experts in your field what tips do you have for designers who are interested in creating WordPress themes. Plus, what styles are currently in vogue and how do you see theme styles evolving over the next 12 months?
AP: I must admit that it took us a while to really understand (and we still find ourselves surprised sometimes) what our users are after. Creating a theme that’s going to be used by multiple people each with different design tastes is never easy, as you’re trying to create something to fit everyone’s needs, while also creating something to satisfy only certain requirements. So I think beyond the function/purpose of a WP theme, one needs to ensure that the code base is superior and basically stays out of the way of the user who wants to modify the theme. As for theme styles; this is something we continue to experiment with on a regular basis. In the past, we released themes that were very multipurposed, but as our themes library grows (from 22 themes currently), we’ve found that users are after our more niche purposed themes. Magazine-style designs are still very popular, as are multimedia ones, but our users are requesting more and more business themes instead.

COMING SOON!! WEB DESIGNER PODCAST EPISODE 4 WHERE WE TALK TO MARK FORRESTOR ABOUT WOOTHEMES AND WORPDRESS

Blogging tips from the experts

Steve Jenkins — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:52:20 +0000

Every blog has an author and here we talk to six experts who give an insight into what makes a successful blog.

Simon Cook
Made in England byGentlemen
www.made-in-england.org
Most of the blogs I read, and my own included, are written by a single person with a particular or even peculiar interest. It’s that personal way of seeing the world that gives the blog its character. Don’t try to write for an audience, just write for yourself. That honestly will come through and earn you the loyalty of regular readers.

James Davidson
We Heart Stuff
www.weheartstuff.co.uk
First and foremost, it is essential that you are writing about something you have a passion for. If you don’t eat it and sleep it, how are you going to bring yourself to write posts when you’re feeling ill or just a bit lazy? Make it look good, and blog with plenty of images. You’ve got to get the attention of impatient web users within seconds. Don’t get too bogged down fussing over your stats and wasting time social networking. You can find some websites that are relevant to your subject matter and put the word out, but if you use your time writing good, quality, well-thought-out content, then the hits will start coming.

Marie January Cavan
Dawghouse Design Studio
www.dawghousedesignstudio.com
We all have our favorite blogs to visit, depending on whatever interests we have. Sure, if we find a post interesting then we read through it, but what defines a great blog? For me, blog design should be creative, eye-catching and unique. It should be clean, have a coherently structured mark-up, cross-browser compatible and have high usability. The content should be engaging; photos, videos and intriguing headlines can be used for further enhancement. These are the factors that make a blog great, the effect of which is inspiration for people to create their own blogs.

Larissa Meek
Larissa Meek’s blog
www.larissameek.com
A blog can stand out from the crowd by creating its own brand. This brand should be carried over into other social spaces, such as Twitter and Facebook ,via avatars for instance. Good design does not compete with the content. However, it should leave a mark on the visitor’s memory. A good blog uses the typographer’s scale consistently allowing headlines to ‘pop’. Branding is more than just visual design. It is also about the blog’s voice, which should include unique and consistent content. This includes attention-grabbing headlines. Most importantly, a good blog incorporates ad space sparingly. Nothing looks worse than a blog with ads in every piece of white space.

Vitaly Friedman
Smashing Magazine
www.smashingmagazine.com
A good blog is a blog that meets its readers’ expectations. It helps to discover new perspectives, learn new techniques, explore new insights or find useful instruments for their work. To be successful, offer useful and innovative content. Be patient and curious. Work harder than the others and never compromise the quality of your posts. Your readers will be grateful for your hard work and they will come back. And that’s what makes a blog good in the first place.

Veerle Pieters
Veerle’s blog
http://veerle.duoh.com
For me personally, a good blog makes you want to start your own blog. I like to know a bit more about the person behind it and what makes him or her tick. The layout and content must be interesting enough to make me want to explore it deeper. It doesn’t always need to be educational, but if it is, all the more reason to stay. Now about the pitfalls: the biggest hurdle that comes with blogging are comments. You have to be prepared for some of the nasty stuff that people will say eventually. The more popular you get, the higher the nastiness will go.

Essential WordPress themes

Mark Billen — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:44:19 +0000

There are plenty of people producing professionally styled WordPress templates you can use to get started. Here’s a few of our favourite sites recommended examples…

Revolution
www.revolutiontheme.com
Widget-ready, customisable themes for online magazines, newspapers and other websites that wish to use WordPress as a CRM.

Revolution Theme
Price: $US 79.95
Designed to be used as a static website or content management system. Perfect for a small business or personal site.

Revolution
Magazine Theme
Price: $US 79.95
Perfect for publishing an online magazine. Built for daily posting and easy advert monetisation.