Sometimes separate hobbies and interests come together in rare, unexpected, and fun ways. And when it does its worth talking about. In my case, my love of photography with old film cameras met my love of The Night Stalker. For those of you not in the know, The Night Stalker was an early 70’s movie-of-the-week turned short-lived TV series. The basic plot is overly curious news reporter, Carl Kolchak, investigates stories that have paranormal causes. The usual stuff a reporter covers, vampires, succuba, moss monsters, etc. It kept me riveted to the TV as a kid because it was had so much scary fun to watch. 

As an adult, it still keeps me riveted to the TV, but for a different reason now. I recently borrowed a DVD set of The Night Stalker and quickly started noticing all the old cameras that were in each episode. Kolchak uses a Rollei-16 16mm camera in most episodes, a couple of Hasselblad 500’s in another episode, Nikon F’s are often spotted, Canon slr’s once or twice, a Minox subminiature, and a couple of types of movie cameras I’ve never seen before. Kolchak never seems to bother with such trivial things as focusing, and the flash firing doesn’t seem to have much to do with whether its daylight or dark. It seems to flash more in broad daylight than at night. Also, apparently in 1974 processing film and developing prints was a fairly common office skill.

So besides enjoying the crazy Kolchak open that door that nobody in their right mind would open, its a blast to keep an eye open for the those little pieces of photography history.

In this age of free wi-fi, unlimited internet access, and “need it now” mentality, a website is often the first place a business or individual goes to for information. We don’t want to think about business hours, we don’t want to wait through a telephone assistance directory, or who we should speak with to answer our questions. We want our information RIGHT NOW! Thats where the website shines. Its always on, 24/7, ready to answer questions or provide streams of information. And the benefits to small businesses are numerous.

One of the great things about the internet for small businesses is that it levels the “image” playing field. A small business or startup has many disadvantages versus its more established competition. Some examples are a smaller staff, fewer resources, and possibly limited office space to bring clients to. But a website is where the small business can shine proudly and provide an increased level of service and marketing. 

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This past weekend I joined some fellow photography enthusiasts from Flickr.com for a little auto junkyard photo session. I was surprised that out of more than a dozen photographers, I was the only person shooting with film cameras. I have a decent digital camera, but it was really never a question in mind that I was going to be bringing film cameras instead of my digital. So why is that? The simple answer is creativity.

Despite the obvious advantages of a digital camera, instant feedback, virtually unlimited number of shots, no developing, no bulky film to carry around, etc., digital cameras make me think more technically rather than creatively. Digital cameras definitely have there place in my world. When I need to document a process or photograph a product, I think of a digital camera because of its fast workflow. If I’m trying to capture a bee buzzing around a flower or a subject requiring a long telephoto, I would prefer my digital system. But when it comes to photographing more imaginatively and creatively, I go for film.

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I’ve been thinking lately about the seemingly self-imposed segregation of print designers and web designers. Do you consider yourself a print designer or a web designer? While I do believe experience, preference, and passion can lead a designer down one path or the other, I don’t believe that print designers should feel disadvantaged at the prospect of designing for the web. I believe print designers possess all of the design knowledge needed to produce a unique and exciting website design.

Lets be clear in understanding that I’m discussing pure design aspects only. I’m not including the knowledge of html, css, php, or any other technical languages that go into getting a website up and running. It’s this technical knowledge that ultimately defines a web designer from a print designer. 

My personal background is probably more unusual than most designers. My print and web design experiences were born together. My design career began in 1996 when I produced my first website and also my first print catalog. I wavered many years trying to decide if I was a print designer or a web designer. Both had their advantages. Print design offered seemingly unlimited design freedom without regard to file size or screen resolution. Web design offered the advantage of dynamic production while instantly reaching hundreds of thousands of viewers. Ultimately, I came to the realization that a its ok to be just a “designer” and accept both mediums equally. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently completed a web project for The Air Filter Store, www.theairfilterstore.com. It was a redesign away from static html pages to the Drupal content management system. One major advantage of the site redesign is amount of user intelligence data Drupal is providing via its Search function.

Previously, visitors did not have the ability to search the website. They had to follow site navigation to find the information and products they wanted. The search function was implemented to offer an alternative to linear site navigation. But its doing so much more than that.

Drupal allows the owner/admin to see what visitors are searching for and the results they are getting. This type of information is incredibly valuable to improving how well the website serves its visitors. Because not only can you see what visitors are searching for, it tells you how they are using the website, it suggests what product or feature may be missing, and can help you make it easier for the customer to find the information they want. And for an ecommerce website this means more sales.

I’m curious now to see how I can use this new site search intelligence in conjunction with Google Analytics data to even further refine and strengthen the selling power of The Air Filter Store. And get smarter.

Any web designer knows, or finds out very quickly, that all browsers are not created equally. Yes there are web standards, but not all browsers manage those standards the same, or even correctly. So, your finely crafted and authentic web design may display to pixel perfection on your own computer, but fall to pieces when displayed on an alternate browser. Internet Explorer(IE) 6, for example, is notorious for its “non-standard” implementation of web standards compliance. And can require extensive “hacks” to display your web design properly.

So whats a Mac-based designer such as myself to do? Well, one solution is to use the power of Intel-Macs and its wonderful OS to either dual-boot into Windows or use emulation software such as Parallels to load up a version of Internet Explorer right on your Mac. But, if you want to test IE6 on Windows 2000, and also IE7 on Windows XP, this option starts to look ugly really fast. Because you’d have to purchase licenses for each Windows environment you wanted to test.

Another solution is to buy a couple of cheap PC’s and load the OS and browsers you want, and dedicate those computers for testing purposes. That doesn’t seem really practical either and is even more expensive. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m writing about chili because it saves my life. As a designer, I tend to get overly involved in my work. Involved to the point I sometimes forget things like eating and drinking. Then, when I get to a stopping point, I suddenly realize I’m starving to death and need something to eat. Now!

Chili always comes to my rescue. Its my fallback meal. My nutrition failsafe. I can make it in half an hour. Its tasty. Its healthier than a burger and fries. And it makes large quantities. So with one pot of chili I have enough food to keep me going for at least two more meals. 

So if you’re a designer trying to stay alive. Or just hungry. Think chili. 

(Paid for by the Chili Producers Association of America.)

About six months ago I installed the very popular, open source (it’s free), Drupal content management system on my server. After an initial once over I really didn’t get it. The default installation was very generic and I didn’t immediately understand how a content management system could help me build a better website.

Then about two weeks ago I revisited Drupal…and took a big swig of the Drupal kool-aid! After learning the ins and outs of Drupal website design, I want to use it for everything! And I’m currently redesigning three websites to take advantage of Drupal’s features.

Drupal offer several advantages over building static websites. First, other users can be granted access to the website to make edits. Great if you have a site owner who always wants to edit product descriptions, or add text updates. It also uses a powerful template/theme system. Not only does it keep stylesheets attached to particular themes, it also keeps modified php files attached to those themes. So, two different themes, although using the same content, can have drastically different navigation and appearance. This should make my web design life much simpler!

I feel Drupal has a place in my web toolbox for all sites big and small. I can see it allowing me to build websites faster, make them more client-friendly, and may allow me to even put in place my low-cost website plan. Finally!

I thought I would write a quick little, non-techie, blog post about my experience with the desktop Twitter app known as Twhirl. I started using it on Mothers Day as an experiment. I was bored with twittering via IM and cell phone (just bored in general really) and thought I would give the Twhirl app a whirl. <–(clever)

Since then I have really come to prefer the Twhirl app. So why use a desktop Twitter app? After all, for sending and receiving tweets, IM, txt, or web is perfectly suitable. Well, I don’t have my unlimited texting plan anymore, I get tired of refreshing a web page, and dealing with finicky IM problems gets old fast. Twhirl gives me an always-on, always-refreshing (well, every 2min in my case), link to the Twitter world. I let Twhirl run continuously in the background of my desktop and laptop computers, and regardless of which computer I’m using, I automatically get my tweets. Plus, Twhirl has several nice features that make it easy to reply, send direct messages, or manage multiple Twitter accounts. 

If you’ve never given a desktop Twitter app a try, I highly recommend it. And Twhirl is a good place to start.

Ok, Wordpress is installed. I’ve had my breakfast. My coffee is hot. Time to get down to some serious blogging…

<crickets chirping>