iPoint Critique

Beamer: I like the colors and style you used in your design. I think the navigation is really creative and works well. The body text is a little small on the first few pages. It might be a little more readable with slightly larger font and shorter distance across. The overall feel is very friendly and approachable. I like that you kept your pages consistent. I think if you added a little more imagery (photos) it would break up the blue. Overall very beautiful!

Farry: I think your photographs bring a lot of richness to you site. The colors and gradients are also great. I think your type size and amount of white space is just right, making it easy to scroll through the content. I like that you added jump links. I think your navigation buttons are a little on the large size, but overall very professional!

Jacobsen: I like how bright your site is, a little contrast to the sites by other designers. I think it gives an open and welcoming feel. You have a nice amount of imagery in your banner and in each page. What a great idea to make separate pages for Private and Public Sector (wish I thought of that)! I think you could add a different photo for either Contact page or Clients page. Nice work!

If I were to redesign my iPoint site, I would add more images to break up the dark background and create a better banner for the top. I would also fix my right side collum so that the text fit better, and add a separate pages for public and private sector.

Customizing Blogger

It is really simple to explore customizing elements within Blogger. The layout sections allows you to change templates, font, color, page elements and html code. After I chose a template layout, I modified the background, link and banner colors of my blog. To the right I added a gadget to list related links and below a navigation bar for other pages. I also added this css code to remove the navigation bar at the top of my blog:

#navbar-iframe {display:none !important;}

You can also import personalized banners, backgrounds and add to the html code. You can find more robust templates to purchase. Customizing is easy and a great way to differentiate yourself from other sites.

Resource: Web Design Ledger

A resource I really like is WebDesignLedger.com. It offers sections about freebies, inspiration, resources, tips, tools, tutorials and updates. The WDL's purpose is to showcase web design related knowledge and resources. I think it is fairly similar to SmashingMagazine.com in that they showcase really current and well executed work. I like that they chose one topic and give many examples of designers' and developers' work who have successfully implement that topic. You can find blogs on anything from the color blue to how to find local clients as a freelance designer. I think the blogs do a great job of summarizing and keeping to the point while incorporating many screen shots and imagery. You can subscribe and get updates via email, twitter or rss. The WDL also has a library where you can sign up to buy and sell design work.

Blogging about blogging... What is RSS?

For the last few weeks I have been exploring RSS and blogging. Although I have learned a lot, I also feel overwhelmed by the possibilities blogging can offer. So here is my attempt to break it down… what is rss, where is it used and why? Internet is used for email, news, entertainment, etc. It’s a daily tool to find current content. However, RSS has introduced a new way of browsing and receiving that content. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication,” and can be recognized by the little orange icon. RSS collects web feeds (blog entries, news headlines, etc.) from sites in which you “subscribe.” This is similar to the news feed seen in Facebook. The purpose is to help the viewer eliminate wasting time by periodically checking their favorite websites. Instead the updated content is sent in XML format to whichever aggregator (a.k.a. home/reader) the viewer has chosen (ex: Bloglines, My Yahoo!, Google Reader, NewsGator, etc). After you choose an aggregator (all you need is a free account), then add your favorite sites by “subscribing” to their feed, organize sites within folders and get reading! You can change settings to share with others what you read. There are many ways to use RSS. I have friends who just had a baby and blog to update their family back east. RSS can also be used to receive weather and news updates. It is easy to find more suggested articles within your reader. There is also reason to use RSS if you are a small, growing business. This is an easy and free way to share your company name, increase website traffic and promote your business. This is a great way of obtaining new information and passing it along to others. So quit wasting time and start reading! And please check out this list of other ways to use RSS: feedforall.com.

Other resources:
RSS in Plain English video

Blogging in Plain English video

fFurious

I like this site called ffurious.com. fFurious is a creative communications company and in this site you can find their graphic, motion & interactive design, illustration, photography and many other art projects.

The ffurious site is relatively simple, black and white with the main navigation on the left. I think this compliments the site's main focus: their work. Under "INTERACTIVE" and using the bottom scroll bar you will find links. Check out www.homyoga.sg. Here they used the illustrated & animated environment to navigate around the site. After you click on a section the navigation becomes more traditional, at the top of the page. The sections become colorful and larger when rolled over. Again I like that they keep the overall design simple and unique with a single color per page.

I encourage you to explore their work. I especially like their illustrations and flash projects.