Design on the mind

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Hope you all have a fun and relaxing time! Look forward to seeing you all next year!

From all of us at Deckchair:

Share This

Castle School in Thornbury, Bristol approached the web design team at Deckchair to design and build a new school website. They wanted to have complete control over the content of the website and the ability to change and update the copy on any page. We have given them exactly that; a fully content managed (updateable by them) website built using Wordpress. It has intuitive navigation, search function, multiple sections and news and events calendar.

It has created a single point of information for Staff, parents and pupils. Files, letters and information can be downloaded from the website very easily. For example parents can download the latest ‘letters home’ and view homework timetables. (Sorry kids, no getting out of your maths homework now!)

Staff can upload images and photographs to a website called Flickr which will automatically display the images as a slideshow on the school website.

Are you a school or college in or near Bristol? Can we help you with your website to give you full control over your content? Call us anytime for a chat and some impartial advice.

Toni

Share This

According to a BBC report, shoppers in the UK will spend £200m a day on the internet in the run up to Christmas; with the total holiday spend likely to hit £4bn. This Year’s online spend is set to be 50% more than last Christmas.

People are more comfortable now than they have been with the idea of ordering on line. More and more businesses have set up ecommerce websites and are cashing in on this new buying trend. However, there are still weak areas that prevent the ecommerce businesses from achieving their full potential. The main issue that I want to discuss in this blog is:

Unpredictable Delivery

It is simply not convenient to have a package delivered at an unannounced or unpredictable time. Delivering goods to people’s homes during office hours whilst they are at work just doesn’t make sense.

I have had plenty of these little notes through my door saying: “Sorry we missed you…”. You then have to wait 48 hours for the package to get back to the depot before you can retrieve it. This not only delays getting your shopping but you then have to drive there yourself to pick it up. Great! That hardly takes the stress out of the shopping experience does it?

Another annoying delivery trick is when a courier company just leaves the package on your doorstep for all to see. If it hasn’t been stolen by the time you get home from work it has probably been damaged by torrential rain.

Some ecommerce websites allow you to put special instructions on your delivery details when you order which is certainly on the way to being helpful. This gives you the chance to specify a trusted neighbour to take it for you or a safe secret place where they can leave it. But it is still not ideal.

My delivery choice wish list

How about ecommerce websites giving a full range of delivery options? People like choice, it makes them feel like they have a say in the process. The range of options could look like this:

1. Free delivery – arrives 2–4 days
2. Standard delivery – arrives 1-2 days
3. Express delivery – arrives next day
4. Super Delivery – Arrives within a specified time slot of customer’s choice.
5. Special Evening delivery – Arrives after 7pm at night.
6. Weekend Delivery – Arrives at a specified time on the weekend.
7. Flying carpet delivery – Arrives at exactly the moment the customer specifies.

Well, if you had this many options for delivery you would certainly be spoiled for choice.

I have covered many ecommerce web design and business issues in these previous articles:

Types of Successful Ecommerce websites

Ecommerce peeves and must haves - Boost those conversion rates.

Anyone got any other ecommerce delivery solution ideas out there? Anyone want to rant about ecommerce delivery issues?

Toni

Share This

Tattooing has been used throughout history for many different purposes and has strong roots in many cultures. Recently there has been a surge in the popularity of tattooing in Europe and the USA, mainly as a form of self expression. These modern tattoos take their artistic influences from many places. I find the Japanese style of tattooing to be particularly beautiful. We are talking serious art here folks, fantastic isn’t it?

Please excuse my heavy use of pictures in this blog but I know you are finding it just as fascinating as I am!

A big Thank you to James who works for Total Tattoo magazine for allowing me to use his pictures of the London Tattoo convention 2007.  

The recent growth in tattoo culture has inevitably led to advertisers jumping on the band wagon, particularly where the brand is designed to appeal to a young audience. Levis are always on the ball:

Converse use a similar style of advertising, but here you can see that the model has actually been ‘branded’ with the Converse logo. The advertisement suggests the consumer’s  loyalty to the Converse brand by him ‘wearing’ it permanantly.

It is not just the ’street wear’ brands that are doing this either, have a look at the Chanel eyewear advert below:

However, talking of brand loyalty I thought I would include this picture that I find absolutely hilarious, especially in the light of Google’s recent behaviour with the Blogger platform. See Randa’s blog: Google is getting to big for it’s britches. I suppose if you are going to tattoo your favourite brand on to your body you had better hope that you are always going to like it!!! (I think the font is a bit wrong too?)

I absolutely love this advert for Fransesco Biasia purses and handbags. Obviously it is not a real tattoo but they are still cashing in on the idea.

These Brazilian adverts for sandals are certainly eye catching:

Gisele, the model, is not really a heavily tattooed girl but they have certainly made it look very realistic.

I would just like to include one more advertising picture for Playstation that is great fun although a little dark. Even though it isn’t really about the tattoo; the image still emulates the sub culture:

Thanks to Ads of the world for providing all the advertising pictures.

Can you think of any other examples of advertisers cashing in on trends? How do you feel about the increased popularity of tattooing? Are you a heavily tattooed person who is annoyed by the trend ruining your individuality?

Toni

Share This

The short answer to this question is NO, they certainly shouldn’t! For a web or graphic designer there are always going to be deadlines. They are a part of any brief; a client always has a timescale in mind. The question is whether the client’s idea of a realistic timescale matches the designers and their workload. No good designer will take on a job where the quality of the design would be compromised just to meet an unrealistic deadline. It is just not worth his/her reputation.

Project Management

A good designer will, however, be able to meet a tight deadline with effective management of the project.  To manage a design project a designer needs to be aware of the following:

1. How long it will take to do each particular part of the design and how that will fit in with the internal scheduling of all the design projects that are current.

2. How long will any outsourced parts of the design take? For example a print job will be heavily reliant on the printer’s schedule so this will need to be checked and factored in.

3. How much of the project will rely on the client? – for example if the client is required to supply copy for the website design, they will need to be made aware of when it is needed and the consequence of that deadline being missed.

4. If the design project is for a larger company that will require multiple sign offs for approval it is probably worth allowing a little more time for this in the schedule.

5. For very large projects where there are many parts or stages to the design it is always worth allowing extra time for the inevitable changes or additions. These will often happen as the project moves forward however meticulously it has been planned out.

Timeline

A very effective way to ensure that the project is managed properly is for the designer to agree a timeline with the client before work begins; this can be done as part of the contract. The timeline should include:

1. Production deadlines

2. Approval deadlines

3. Deadlines for the supply of content including copy and images from the client.

4. Testing deadlines

5. Launch/delivery dates.

Be sure that the client is aware of the importance of the timeline and how each milestone deadline that is not met will affect the overall project.

Communication

If the project management and the timeline are executed properly there will be little reason for a project to run over time. It is very important, however, that the communication between the designer and the client is good. It means that any hiccups or delays can be resolved straight away; everyone is in the loop.

Respect the deadline

If the timescale is very tight and the designer has any doubts that the deadline would not be met then he should not attempt to take the job on. Sometimes in this situation the client has an unrealistic idea of how long a project will take and if they have not left themselves enough time to complete it then the designer would be wise to steer well clear and keep his reputation intact.

It is always possible to ask if a deadline can be moved before a project starts. But the designer will loose the respect of the client if he suddenly asks for an extension halfway through the project. Deadlines must be respected at all costs and should never jeopardise the quality of the design work or the reputation of the client.

Toni

Related articles:

Are we there yet? Meet your design deadline

The Tao of deadlines

Deadlines kill inspiration

Share This

I know that I am not by any means the first to raise this issue, nor will I be the last. But I do think that it is always a worthy topic for discussion. There are many areas of design where a greener solution could be chosen. The first and most obvious one for me is packaging design.

I was listening to the radio a few weeks ago and they were discussing the reason why a cucumber needs to be shrink wrapped in plastic.

The supermarket spokesperson gave these reasons:
a) We need to get the bar code on there for the cashier to scan.
b) It will stay fresh for 12 days in the fridge.

My response to this was who on earth wants to keep a cucumber for 12 days, it defeats the whole idea of eating FRESH food!! And if the supermarkets are insistent that the bar code needs to be on the vegetable then perhaps a sticker as shown below would be a better alternative?

I also felt the need to include this image of a single aubergine packed in plastic. What a ridiculous waste of resources, energy, land fill space etc. It is on a par with plastic trays displaying a couple of avocados or apples which are then wrapped again in plastic. Grrrrrrr!

Since the obvious solution of banning plastic packaging for food doesn’t look likely to happen anytime soon, why is biodegradable plastic not used more often? Well it’s down to the increased cost to produce it I guess, they wouldn’t want to eat into those gazillion pound profit margins.

Here is an example of a packaging manufacturer who use bio-plastics that are 100% biodegradable, with a low carbon footprint and are made from annually renewable plants:

London Bio Packaging Full marks to you!

I would also like to link to Noisy decent graphic’s blog on the subject who were the main influence for my blog. They have gone into much more detail, also raising the question of the involvement of the designers in the whole process of food packaging. A great read.

Graphic design for print is another area that can be looked at. The print industry is the 5th largest manufacturing industry in the UK and has the 6th worst pollution record. It is a resource intensive industry that is mostly unsustainable. Print companies and Design agencies should at least be offering their clients print services that use recycled paper or paper from sustainable forests as a green alternative.

Anyway, this is a huge topic and I don’t want to rant on about it too much but I would be most interested to hear any of your opinions on this subject.

Toni

Share This

Every now and then all bloggers experience what is known as ‘bloggers block’. When it comes creeping in, it can be a terrifying affliction; the pressure of making that next post as original and interesting as the last, grows. As the blogger tosses and turns at night, unable to sleep he feels his once eager readers slipping from his grasp… OK, maybe it’s not that bad but every now and then we all struggle for inspiration so I thought I would (humbly) write a few top tips to help design bloggers or in fact any blogger keep the creativity flowing.

1. Obviously there is always inspiration out there in your fellow bloggers’ work. Reading other blogs regularly will often spark a good idea for your own blog. You can add a new perspective to their point or spot a tangent that they haven’t mentioned. It is good to be inspired by someone else’s work; you can credit them, quote them and link to them to show your appreciation. (Of course it isn’t good to just blatantly steal someone else’s copy).

2. Use a tool like wordtracker to do some in depth keyword research; find some little niche phrases to blog about, you may be surprised at what you find.

3. Have a think about recent web or graphic design projects you have been working on. Have you come across a technical issue that you could write about? Have you learned a new way of doing something or achieving a new effect in a design program that you use? These are going to be particularly interesting to other designers.

4. Have you just completed a design project? Perhaps a post about what you have achieved for the client might be interesting to potential clients. This is definitely one that you shouldn’t do too often though as a blog that constantly blows its own trumpet all the time is rather dull.

5. Have a jolly good rant…go on; don’t hold back, you know it will make you feel better! As long as the rant has an objective and bears some relation to your topic it can work really well. Some of the best blogs I have read have been pure rant. Again, this is not something you want to do all the time you need to have some positive stuff in there too.

6. Put your self in your reader’s shoes for a moment and think about what questions they might need answering. What information have you got that might be really useful to them? Having an objective like this can help the writing process too.

7. Take the time to read books and magazines on your industry; these are going to be filled with stimulating information on your niche topics that will give you some ideas to bounce around.

8. Try to write from a different perspective sometimes, perhaps looking at the industry in a broader sense rather than focusing on details for example. Also try looking at issues that concern the industries that are in some way connected to yours.

9. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to write a massive long essay every time. Short blogs can be just as effective and actually easier to read, particularly as web readers have a much more limited attention span.

10. Keep a little list somewhere of ideas, issues and facts that you can keep coming back to for inspiration. Often I will see a particular thing on my list a few times before I actually attempt to write about it and usually each time I see it I have a new angle on it or a new idea of a good way to write it.

11. If the bloggers block has a real tight hold on you, it is always an option to offer a guest blog spot to another blogger. This will give you a bit of breathing space to recoup your writing energy. This brings me neatly on to my next tip:

12. Take some time out away from your computer, go for a walk or pause to chat to someone about something unrelated. This is a good way to freshen your mind. You never know you might be able to start a blog with “A funny thing happened to me on the way to the shop…”

13. A good way to post regularly is to cover a topic or issue over several blog posts or in several parts. This not only gives you a bit more time to write but also gives the readers an incentive to come back.

14. Find something that you don’t know the answer to and blog about that, asking your readers for their opinion at the end of the post. This not only humanises you but gives people the opportunity to help you. Got to be a good thing – we all need help sometimes!

So, if like me you sometimes find yourself staring hopelessly at your computer desperately waiting for something to happen; try some of the above.
Hope this is helpful…if you have any bloggers block tips to share it would be great to here from you.

Toni

Other related useful articles:
20 types of blog posts - battling bloggers block
blogger block poem
Getting past bloggers block

Share This

Blogging has become a very popular way to communicate with your audience and to keep content fresh on a website. Wordpress would be many people’s choice of platform for a blog, as it is well designed and certainly very flexible. It has been said that blog websites can ‘all look the same’, but it is very easy to make them look different with the hundreds of wordpress themes available and a bit of personalisation. In fact a lot of people now have turned their website into their blog and combined the two. We are in the process of doing this with our site and hope to gain many benefits.

Although Wordpress was launched originally as a blogging tool, many people are now using it to build non blog websites. Because of its lean code, expandability through a multitude of available plugins and great backend administration area, it has become a versatile platform from which to build a fully content managed site. Unlike other CMS systems which are bloated and maybe too full featured (Joomla is good, but guilty of this), the simple nature of Wordpress allows designers to expand from an uncluttered base and go as far as you want with features and design.

Here is a great example of a Wordpress site: David Airey.

Do you use wordpress? What limitations have you found with using it to build non blog websites? Are there other systems you prefer to use? It would be great to hear others thoughts on this.

Ollie

Share This

Every now and then I come across the work of a talented artist, designer or photographer, and it’s always a great inspiration. James Starr was exhibiting at Room 212 in Bristol a few weeks ago and I have to say he is one of the more impressive artists I have seen there.

James is a painter, printer and illustrator. His images are created using a mixture of original screen printed material, photography, freehand illustration and collage. He has traveled as an expedition artist for BSES Expeditions to the USA, South Africa, Iceland and Arctic Norway.

I spent quite a bit of time chatting to James and he took the trouble to pop by our house to drop some work off to me and my partner. (James, it is at the framers; can’t wait to get it back! :)). It was a great pleasure to meet a talented local artist and genuinely nice person.

Stop by James’s website sometime and have a look: James Starr

Toni

Share This

Thought I would do a short post on this subject as it is still a topic for debate and a little confusing (possibly only for me).

What is Google PageRank? PageRank is a numerical scoring system that gives a unique ranking to every page on the internet. The ranking number is based on the number and quality of inbound links pointing at the page (according to Google).

Check your pageRank here with this SEO tool

So, is PageRank important for rankings?

Well, from what I can understand it certainly seems to be less important than it used to be. Nearly everything I have read seems to suggest that it has become more of a way to check the popularity of a page than to regulate its positioning on the results pages.

The Deckchair website homepage used to have a PR5 which would be considered OK, certainly not terrible. About 8 months ago our PageRank dropped to PR4 and this was after having done a lot of work on our linking strategy and content. Despite this drop we are doing better than ever in the SERPs (Search Engine results pages).

For example if you do a Google search for “web design Bristol” you will see that we are No. 3 on the first page (chuffed with that).  Many of the websites that appear lower than the Deckchair site for that search term have higher PRs of 6 and 7. So it would seem that content and other non-PR factors are more important for a website’s rankings.

Some say that the PR is only a measure of the ‘quantity’ of inbound links.  So websites that have concentrated on buying as many links as possible regardless of how relevant they are will find that they don’t do as well despite having a very high PR.
The flip side to this thinking is that PageRank drives Google’s monthly crawl, meaning that sites with a higher PageRank get crawled earlier, faster, and deeper than sites with low PageRank. So, for a large site with an average-to-low PageRank, this will present a problem; if your pages don’t get crawled, they won’t get indexed and people won’t be able to find them. Is this still the case?

SEOBook author Aaron Wall says; “Instead of chasing PageRank I like to find the low PageRank sites that rank well in the search results. What links do they have? Why are they ranking so well? If you get the types of links that those sites have and if you have a compelling website that other sites actually want to link to, the PageRank will naturally fall into place without you developing a wonky link profile trying to artificially boost your PageRank.”

Any thoughts anyone?

Toni

Share This