Being both a graphic designer and business owner, I have a love hate relationship with Microsoft Excel. Having an uncontrollable need to make things look clean, organized and professional in my layouts often leads me to clash with Excel. Being a business owner as well, it is essential that I use Excel for a variety of reports and spreadsheets. Today however, I stumbled across a few tips that help Excel users customize their layouts (among other useful tips) that helped bridge that gap within me between design and business. (more…)

Large projects are great because it not only gives you a guaranteed income for the next few months, but also because it allows you to test your current management skills and learn a bit more about your strengths and weaknesses. While every project is a learning experience, I have found that larger projects teach you 10 times as much as a basic front-end-only site. In this post I would like to go over a few strategies we used in our most recent project, SocialRoster.com, and how they benefited our schedule and final product. Rather than give you the generic “here is how you should do this” soap-box talk, I will just review some key points that I recommend you try in your next project. (more…)

They say every day is a learning experience. I continually repeat that to myself after every hitch or problem I come across during the development process. There have been times I have held my head in my hands and asked why I ever decided to purchase a computer. However, in the end it always works out and everything is back to normal.

So I would like to go over five of the most important ideas, concepts, or general programming tips I have learned over the years, and how they have helped me along the way.

1.    Browser CSS inconsistencies
Every browser has its own way of causing you pain until you learn how to cater to it’s needs. Anyone that has touched CSS knows that Internet Explorer (though IE7 is an improvement) is a nightmare when it comes to CSS. The list of CSS hacks to make everything display perfectly between browsers is longer than the Bible, so it is tough to learn what they all are and how to use them. After creating enough layouts though I have realized that the style sheets I am creating are cross-browser supported (in Firefox, Safari, and IE at least) without requiring any hacks. This comes from continuous practice, heartache and tears. If I had the knowledge I do now in CSS when I started, I would have had a lot more fun with creating my earliest sites.

2.    Why I would end up preferring PHP over ASP.NET
I learned development in PHP and nose-dived into .NET soon before I took on an Application Developer position at an advertising agency (Planit) in Baltimore. I absolutely loved developing in .NET due to the massive library that is embedded in the language, the Intellisense support, and the tight integration with Windows IIS. This passion soon died when I went solo with Riddle Brothers and had to convince customers that the $20 extra each month for Windows-based hosting was advisable, and that their SQL Server license costs were worth the money over MySQL.  Then I soon started finding out that the different Web hosting companies limited certain functionality of .NET such as .DLL support and COM installations. Even the explanation is confusing!

When I jumped back over to LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and Perl/Python/PHP) I welcomed the ability to just upload a site and be done with it. No more configuring the Web.config file, verifying the IIS version, and hoping the hosting company allowed me to use a custom module. Of course there are problems with LAMP configurations as well (I hate compiling applications on Linux), but I will deal with these problems any day over the .NET horror.

3.    The YUI library
YAHOO released a library some time ago that makes JavaScript development enjoyable. Yes, I used “enjoyable” and “JavaScript” in the same sentence. From animations to Asynchronous request the YUI library has it all. I went through about 5 other frameworks (including Dojo, Scriptaculous, jQuery) which all have their advantages, but I felt the Yahoo library had the most extensive features. Not to mention their developers are continually updating the framework so there are always new functions to play with!

4.    Zend Framework
Great, another PHP frameworks. There are so many PHP frameworks for database, templates and security it is overwhelming. Why do I love the Zend framework? Well, since PHP3 the language parser was created by Zend so the developers obviously know the language. It is a personal preference, but I also feel that the ease of use for the framework makes it the best choice for developers. Just upload the entire system and include whatever module you will be using, and you’re done.

5.    Great programming practices
To some people programming books are dull and boring, but you should follow their suggestions. One of my favorite books is Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction. No matter what language you develop it, you must read this book. It covers everything from testing to estimating to commenting. Anything you want to know about general development practice is in this book. I pretty much live by the book’s recommendations - so much that my little brothers says I “comment like a textbook”. Great programming practices not only make it easier for other developers you are working with, but it makes a defined system of how your code is built between the many sites you develop. Consistency is a great thing to have when you are working on more than one project, and good practices will give you the groundwork to create a usable, streamlined system of your own to build over time.

If you are a beginning developer or have not heard of some of the items I mentioned above I suggest taking some time to check them out. These are a few of the many concepts I have learned from over time and now use them with most of my larger projects. Experience is the best way to learn so be sure to try out new systems and ideas whenever you can.

You have written your proposal for a new Web site project and submitted it to your potential client. After a few agonizing weeks of waiting, they have contacted you and expressed interest in meeting with you to go over your proposal and project details. You can barely contain your excitement as you agree to meet with them in a week for three or so hours. After you hang up the phone you realize this meeting will either give you your next project (and income), or break the deal. What do you do?

Fortunately, the Riddle Brothers have been to and hosted a few meetings and we are willing to share with you our top ideas and tips for hosting a successful meeting.

 
1. A Comfortable Meeting Place

Sure, a coffee shop is fine for a brief 20 minute get-to-know-you type of meeting. However it is not ideal for spreading out your Web site wireframes and proposals for in-depth review. Having a large, spacious place to meet with comfortable furniture is a huge plus. The comfort of your client can only help increase your chances that the meeting will result in your next big project.

We have held several of our meetings in hotel rooms which have a living space and kitchen. Most hotels will allow a late checkout of around 2 p.m., allowing you plenty of time for an early morning / afternoon meeting. Libraries often have meeting rooms which they schedule on a regular basis as well.

2. Supplies

I cannot stress the importance of having a variety of supplies on hand. It can result in awkward embarrassment if your client asks for a stapler and you don’t have one. Some supplies I would recommend you bring to your meetings are: extra pens, paper, a stapler (and staples), paperclips, a white board, a laptop and a printer (if easily portable). At our last meeting we had a printer on hand which allowed us to print out a contract we all modified and agreed on while at the meeting. Therefore we were all able to sign it on the spot saving days worth of back and forth faxing.

3. Food and Drink

Having beverages (water, a variety of sodas, juice) and some light fare on-hand will show your client that you care about their comfort and have been thinking about them prior to the meeting. They may show no interest in eating any food, but the fact that you have it to offer will really make a positive mark.

4. Prepare the Night Before

Pack up everything that you will need for the meeting the night before. This way you will sleep easy knowing everything has been taken care of and you only need to worry about getting yourself ready before heading on out the door.

5. Shake Hands

When the meeting begins and your client arrives, always smile while introducing yourself and shake each and every hand of those who are attending the meeting. I have witnessed many presentations in which the presenter did not personally introduce their-selves to each member of the reviewing committee. This folly put them in a negative light before their presentation even began.

Finally, be courteous, friendly and yourself. Relax and have fun while being professional. Most people enjoy meetings with a relaxed, social atmosphere, and showing your client that you are happy to be talking with them about the project can go a long way.

You have spent your childhood drawing pictures and noodling around with all sorts of design and graphic applications. You know that you are creative, enjoy art and want to get started on the path to becoming a graphic / Web designer. The only problem is you don’t know where to start!
Below are some helpful hints and tips that I give to all budding designers, whether they are nearing the end of their formal education, or just getting their feet wet in the field of design. These tips can help prepare you to become a well-rounded designer that can succeed in the real word and/or the educational setting.

1. Passion - As with any career field, if you don’t enjoy it there is no point in doing it. I have a passion for graphic design. I think about design and its application all throughout the day and I never tire of it. Having a passion and great enjoyment for designing is vital to this field. If you pick up a magazine and notice the layout, font treatment, color usage and photography more than the actual content…you are ripe for the picking as a potential designer.

2. Education - Go to college…period. What did I learn in college about design? Sadly I did not learn much real world application in terms of how to use design programs and such. What I did learn however was design theory and fundamentals. These are your building blocks as a graphic designer. Having a degree can also help show your future employers that you are dedicated to pursuing knowledge and committed to accomplishing a set goal. It’s not the actual degree that matters…it’s the fact that you stuck it out for all four years and obtained one.

3. Self-Teaching - I spent many of my summer days during college researching and learning all the different types of programs involved in layout and graphic design. Granted most of those programs have improved and added features over time (it was 1998-2002), spending a lot of your personal time learning the tools necessary for your career profession is key. Design is not just a career but a hobby too.

4. Real World Advice - Given the advent of Web 2.0 and the ability to interact seamlessly with millions of people online, research a few graphic design professionals and contact them with any questions you have. Having a variety of perspective on the field you are interested in can only help you understand what to expect. This especially holds true in setting up your design files for printing vendors (something that was truly lacking in my formal education in which I had to learn on my own).

5. Freelance - While studying graphic design in College or at a trade school, pursue freelance opportunities during your spare time. How to go about that is an entirely different post, but by getting your name out there into the world as a graphic designer you are setting yourself up for success. Start by doing some charity design at no cost (a logo for your church youth group). It will help you build up your portfolio and give you some practice along the way.

6. Internship - Working part-time for a pre-press layout department was a great starting point for myself. I was able to see how to correctly prepare design files for a professional printing vendor using offset and digital  presses. Finding a similar opportunity will only help you understand how things work on the other side of the printing world.

I am always available to give advice or answer any questions other designers may have, so feel free to contact me if you have a question burning inside of you.

I have a rule as a graphic designer. I am happy to design any publication for any type of client for whatever reason. I am flexible on color scheme, image usage and design treatment. Basically there is nothing I won’t work with a client on if there is a problem. However, I will absolutely never re-type text for any type of design.  Here’s why….

Complete Electronic Text 

A client is supposed to provide the designer with electronic text as finalized as possible. Sure, there is bound to be a grammatical mistake or two, but the text for the most part should be finalized and complete. However there are many times I am given text by a client or writer that has no heading, no sub-heads or no call to action. I have made it my policy to always request additional text from the client. If they provide me the text, I can simply copy and paste it into any layout or design program of my choosing.

A Real-World Example 

I learn from my mistakes, and I didn’t always apply the copy and paste methodology. One job that I was the lead designer for was a cover page for a schedule of classes. The client did not provide me with any heading to use for the cover page, so I simply typed in their business’ name into the Photoshop template: Workforce Professionals (this name is fictional for the purpose of this blog)

However there was one problem. I left out the “K”! The cover page read “Worforce Professionals” and was proofed by myself, the project coordinator, the client and others. Each of us missed this glaring error. It wasn’t until the entire schedule was on press at the printing vendor when our customer service representative called and informed me he had noticed the error. 

Lessons Learned

While dozens of eyes missed this error, it could have been prevented if I had requested text from the client in which I could have simply copied and pasted into the Photoshop file. Even if the error would have still been present, it would have alleviate the blame from myself as the designer.

Therefore copy and paste text…never re-type. Make it part of your designer’s bible. 

Communicating your ideas effectively through a digital medium is essential to maintaining a productive and successful business. However, conveying your ideas isn’t so easy when emails can be misinterpreted, or even worse, if they are unreadable due to poor structure and grammar. Here are a few tips you can use to make sure that you are understood correctly the first time you type it.

The Subject Has a Purpose
If you were about to submit a report to your manager, boss, or a business investor, would you ever label the cover page “Read Me” or “Question”? If you said “yes” then I think email communication should be the least of your worries. The subject line of an email is one of the most important parts of an email, as it determines when, and if the recipient is going to read it. Subjects should be clear, to the point, and as much of a summary of the containing email as possible. Don’t abuse the purpose however, and keep it short to a few words. If the subject line is more than 10-15 words I would consider cutting it down. Also, mind your manners when sending an email to your recipients and do not type in ALL CAPS. It is rude, appears as if you are yelling, and overall is ineffective in communicating your message. If the email is urgent either mark it so in your email program (most client-side programs have integrated this feature regardless of what program you are using) or else place “Urgent:” before your subject. Just be sure that your message is indeed urgent, or else nobody will treat your emails with priority anymore.

Grade School Grammar
Nothing is worse than an email without proper use of grammar and punctuation. Read over your emails and think of what your 4th grade English teacher would have said about your email if it were written on wide rules loose leaf paper (you know, the yellow kind with 2″ lines that tears every time you try to erase something). Use the shift key, punctuate properly, and make sure that you have a subject and predicate. Decrypting the hieroglyphics of a sentence is sometimes more time consuming than reading the email in its entirety. Not only is this frustrating to your recipient, but it requires them to reply to your email for further clarifications. It can also lead to misinterpretation which sometimes is a minor issue, but if you are estimating a large project then misinterpreted scope can cost you a substantial amount of money.

Attachments
Unfortunately not everyone is using high speed internet connections yet. Sending an email with a 3 MB attachment is not so bad on a cable or DSL connection, but those of us that are still using dial-up connections are going to have to wait a good 10-15 minutes for the email to finally download. Even worse, some email programs will not allow you to read other emails or continue using the program until all of your email has downloaded. Talk about frustrating! If you have a large email there are a few alternatives. If you are able to zip the file using a zip program (or Windows’ built in zip functionality) it may be all the difference you need. There are also a lot of great sites that allow you to upload your files and send them to another person for download. I wouldn’t recommend sending your financial documents and other sensitive information, but simple presentations, graphics, multimedia clips, and other reports are perfect for this purpose. Here are a few upload sites that you may want to look into:

DropSend
DropBoks
OneDump
SendThisFile
MegaUpload

Stay On Topic
In relation to the first topic concerning the subject having a purpose, remember that throwing in additional information towards the end of an email is a sure way to be forgotten. Rather than adding “p.s. our meeting is at 3 p.m. tomorrow, right?” to the end of a lengthy email about an entirely different topic, send out another shorter email so that it has its own subject, and is separated from the bulk of the current message. It is very easy to forget the final line of an email if there is a lot of other subject matter that the recipient is focusing on.

Getting a Web site up and running online is not always the easiest task to undertake. With technological advancements that progress nearly every day, it is easy to get lost in the jumble of new terms, and forget about the true purpose of your Web site (whatever that may be). Here are a few tips that can help you when you are researching, planning, and preparing to launch your personal or company Web site.Be Prepared
Knowing exactly what you want from your site is vital in developing a useful business application or promotion tool. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know details such as the color scheme, how many pages it will have, what technology it will be based on (that is our job), but you should definitely have an idea of details such as:

• target audience
• purpose and how it will help
• major sections of the site (do you need a contact page, a portfolio or photo gallery, a members section)
• your priorities such as schedule, cost, features
• potential growth (also known as scalability)

Having a clear concept of how your site will function in the end will assist you in making decisions for aspects of your site along the way.

Keep Your Expectations In Check
A common goal is to be listed a the top of the search engine listings with a certain search term; which is most commonly a very general term such as “movies”. The idea to be listed at the top of one or more of a search engine with a new site, few visitors, and for a general term only sets a bar that is extremely high to achieve. Some companies even make promises of such achievements, but in reality nobody can attain those results without very deep pockets. Yes, you can pay for higher listings in the sponsored ad spaces (which is a very good way to promote your site), but to be listed at the top for free with a popular search time such as “movies” off the bat is very unlikely.

Over time however as your traffic increases, you start receiving more visitors, and your site is monitored to target more specific search results, having your site at the top of the list might not be so far off. Until then however, focus on more specific search engine queries based on your specific business model, your location, or how your site is different than others. Instead of movies, maybe your site is for movies of baby ducks. So target that in your site’s content rather than general “movie” terms.

Just Because Its Trendy Doesn’t Mean You Should Use It
Every time a new trend comes along everyone wants to be a part of it. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a trend. However, don’t get caught up in the hype - always remember the primary objective of your site, and how it relates to the core of your business. A newer trend is AJAX and everyone wants a piece of it in their site. It is a great technology that just hit it mainstream in the past two years, but a lot of sites have fallen victim to poor use of it. Broken back-buttons, disabled bookmarks, browser incompatibilities, and even usability roadblocks are some of the down-sides of a poorly developed AJAX application. However, if done properly and used in a situation that can truly provide a better user experience, then it is always an indiscreet way to say “we are a cutting edge company”.

Blogs are another such beast that have been used to death in many situations that proved not to be beneficial to the company. While they can be an incredible promotional tool (especially if a story is featured on social sites such as digg, stumbleupon, reddit, or any other aggregators) the main issue where blogs will hurt a company is when they are not updated consistently. If a visitor lands on your site and is researching your company, and they find a blog that has a last post date of a year ago, what does that say about your company? Are you lazy? Did you give up? My suggestion is to first, make sure you really enjoy writing up the articles, otherwise you won’t make it past week one. Secondly, post on a consistent schedule. Even if it is once a month, as long as you are posting that article each month then your subscribers will know you’re keeping up with it. And last (but far from least), really think about if it fits your business model to even have a blog!

Conclusion
Don’t be afraid to try new things out on your site, but do remember that your primary purpose in running a business is to bring in revenue and increase profits. If it isn’t working after a certain period of time, it may be time to reconsider if it is worth your resources. Hopefully these tips will help some of you when you begin thinking about the next step in your development process. If you have any questions or need any help with the process, be sure to drop the Riddle Brothers a line and we’ll be glad to help out.