DesignDetails – July 2008

July 30th, 2008

Volume 02 // Number 07

July 2008

In this issue

1. Happy Summer
2. Not Up To Your Standards? Work Harder!
3. Your Prefs, Client Prefs, and Deadlines
4. Find of the Month

Hi,

Happy Summer.

Hope your summer is going well. I am about to head out for a vacation to a dude ranch in Arizona with the family and looking forward to it. Hope you are finding time to recharge your batteries as well. Let’s get to it, here is DesignDetails.

Not Up To Your Standards? Work Harder!

People who produce work of a creative variety have a shared experience. Writers, designers, musicians, moviemakers, chefs, painters, et al. typically get into the game of creating for a living because they love to make things. They know what they like. They create because they love the process, the results, and want to make more of it.
Read More »

Your Prefs, Client Prefs, and Deadlines

Many times in the course of working in a service business one works upon assumptions. You may know background information on a client and can perform many tasks based on what you believe to be your clients’ preferences. These assumed preferences are based on your knowledge of the client, your history with the client, and past behavior of the client. All of these can allow you to make an informed, assumed, decision and carry out a plan, or a series of tasks.
Read More »

Finally, Find of the Month

Every month I share an Internet destination that has some application to doing business, getting things done, or just plain cool. This month it’s a fun one and very simple, bubblewrap. Remember when you were a kid and you would get your hands on the bubblewrap? How much fun was it to pop the bubbles? Well now you can do it on a web site. Be sure to click the checkbox on the bottom right of the screen for “manic mode.”

Wrap up

That’s it for this month of DesignDetails. Let me know what you think of the new format, or if you have any questions about any of this content. I always welcome questions and feedback to make this of value to you.

Are you facing a challenge or have a question relating to the Internet? Please share. I can answer your questions and share with everyone—with anonymity of course.

If you like this e-newsletter, consider forwarding to a friend. Thanks for spreading the word.

Do you know someone in need of expert help or advice with web communications? I always welcome your referrals of friends, colleagues, and family. And let me know if you welcome referrals as well.

I’ll talk to you again next month.

Bert Mahoney AIGA
Publisher, DesignDetails
Principal + Creative Director
HamiltonBerchman Design Group, Inc.
Director of Internet Strategy and Services
AIGA Santa Barbara

AIGA | the professional association for design

DesignDetails – June 2008

June 30th, 2008

Volume 02 // Number 06

June 2008

In this issue

1. Time is Flying
2. What is RSS and why you should care?
3. Happy 3rd Birthday
4. Find of the Month

Hi,

Time is Flying .

Not sure how this month went by so fast but it did. Summer is now if full swing and the mid-way point of 2008 is upon us. I for one cannot believe how fast this year has progressed. You blink and the morning is gone. I feel like the older I get the faster it goes. So I will not waste more time, here is DesignDetails.

What is RSS and why should you care?

With its early predecessors dating back to the mid-1990’s RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a fundamental tool in getting your content published to the widest audience possible on the Internet. Simply put, RSS is a web-based format for frequently updated content, such as blogs, news feeds, and podcasts. Read More »

Happy 3rd Birthday

HamiltonBerchman Design Group turns 3 this month of June in 2008. It has been a great adventure to start HamiltonBerchman and work with so many talented and interesting people. I have had the good fortune of working on some great projects and have had the privilege of helping many people and organizations get more from the Internet. Whether a complete web site or a consultation on Internet strategy and best practices it has all contributed to our success to date. I thank those of you who have been involved with me and HamiltonBerchman in any capacity.

What have I learned? Read More »

Finally, Find of the Month

Every month I share an Internet destination that has some application to doing business, getting things done, or just plain cool. This month it’s a website called Ping.fm. Ping.fm is a web site for people who are blogging and managing multiple personas on social media sites. It allows people to post one item to multiple Internet websites with the click of a button. I came across this last month and now use it to update my LinkedIn profile and other web sites.

You can signup by using my beta code “pingofpings”
Let me know if you have any questions.

DesignDetails – May 2008

May 30th, 2008

Volume 02 // Number 05

May 2008

In this issue

1. Just like last month, another change
2. Is Anybody Out There?
3. Rushing To Deadlines
4. Find of the Month

Just Like Last Month, Another Change.

Last month I changed the design. This month it’s format. To make the content easier to scan and digest I now have the articles on my website at HamiltonBerchman. You can scan and dig in—by clicking—where you find interest. You can also leave comments and start a conversation on the website. More about that in the next article.

Is Anybody Out There?

I’ve begun reading the The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual and it struck me, “is anybody out there?” I’m looking for you—the person reading these words right now. I’m interested in knowing what you think… Read more >

Rushing To Deadlines

We all feel it at one point or another. The large deadline looming over our back. Whether for a project at work or an errand at home the race is on to get something done before a deadline… Read more>

Finally, Find of the Month

Every month I share an Internet destination that has some application to doing business, getting things done, or just plain cool. This month it’s a website called PalBee.com. PalBee offers online whiteboard collaboration, easier, faster and free video conference & video chat—all for free.

Wrap up

That’s it for this month of DesignDetails. Let me know what you think of the new format, or if you have any questions about any of this content. I always welcome questions and feedback to make this content valuable to you.

Are you facing a challenge or have a question relating to the Internet? Please share in the comments below.

If you like this e-newsletter, consider signing up on our homepage, or let a friend who might find value know. Thanks for spreading the word.

Do you know someone in need of expert help or advice with web communications? I always welcome your referrals of friends, colleagues, and family. And let me know if you welcome referrals as well.

I’ll talk to you again next month.

Bert Mahoney AIGA
Publisher, DesignDetails
Principal and Creative Director
HamiltonBerchman Design Group, Inc.
Director of Internet Strategy and Services
AIGA Santa Barbara

AIGA | the professional association for design

Design Details – April 2008

April 30th, 2008

April 2008

In this issue

1. A Change
2. Always A Little Broken
3. Are You Losing Because of Bad Design?
4. Find of the Month

Hi,

A Change.

If you receive DesignDetails each month you will notice that we have slightly changed the design. The format is essentially the same but the visual design, or ’skin,’ is different. The change is to align this email newsletter with our new website which we talk about next.

Always A Little Broken.

The ‘true inventor’ of the Internet, Sir Tim Berners-Lee (sorry Al Gore) said, “The web will always be a little broken.” The Internet is never perfect, things change and web sites change to keep up. I have recently completed work on re-launching the HamiltonBerchman website. It took far too long for this to happen partly because my company is so busy (always a good thing) and because I wanted things to be “just right” before launching it. I realized that every website will always be a little broken and decided to finally publish because no website is ever truly perfect. We are still pouring some content in the news section. The new website has our portfolio of work, a blog (with more frequent thoughts/info/updates than this e-newsletter), archives of DesignDetails, and a news section, each with its own subscribable RSS feed. Take a moment to look and I welcome your feedback.

Are You Losing Because of Bad Design?

Original image concept by BadDesignKills.com

You may be losing business because of bad design. When people have bad experiences they go elsewhere for information, products, or service. As a business person this could be the kiss of death. However, there is great opportunity to address these issues and create a return on investment (ROI) that can reach up to 1000% or more.

Bad design can be applied to anything we interact with: websites, cars, houses, appliances, electronics, etc. In my field, I see bad design as anything getting in the way of easy access to and understanding of information. I’m sure you have experienced bad design in your life as most people have. I, too, recently experienced a bad design when I tried to purchase an item from an e-commerce website. After going through the entire process of selecting the desired item and entering all of my information (including credit card), I received an error that didn’t tell me anything except that there was an error. I tried a few times thinking maybe I entered something wrong but only got the error.

At this point, I was concerned that the orders went through and now my credit card was charged three times and I was going to receive three packages. After speaking with customer service, it turns out that their website cannot process orders shipping to California. They knew about the problem but did not care enough to fix the problem or to put a note on the order page letting customers know about the error. Because I needed a specific product found only at this particular company I could not go to another website. I did finally get what I needed (only one package and one charge). However, had the item been available anywhere else, I would have been out of that website in a heartbeat and that company would have lost a sale to a competitor.

The easy question to ask is, “Are my web communications meeting the goals I have defined?” If you do not have any goals for your web communications you need to rewind and define the purpose of your communications and then define their goals. Goals should be measurable in some way. For example:

• “x” number of sales per month
• “x” number of leads per month
• “x” number of downloads per month
• “x” number of subscribers per month

When you are not meeting your goals the likely culprit is bad design. Something is not performing its function to allow people to follow or flow through what you are presenting them online. Examples of bad design include:

• Incomplete information: not providing complete descriptions and/or hyperlinks to supporting material
• No call to action: are you asking for your visitor to do something in plain language? “Make a donation now!”
• Improperly labeled links: ‘Click here’ is not as effective as ‘here is a company overview PDF file’
• Unnecessary layers causing extra clicks. Extra ’splash’ pages on a website that provide no content value

I recently read a good article on Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox titled Four Bad Designs. The article gives four concrete examples of websites that can use some help. You need to ask yourself:

• Are your web communications meeting your goals?
• Are you happy with the results you are getting?
• Do you want to get more from your web communications?

If you answer no to any one of these I would be happy to talk with you about what you can do. Awareness is the first step to addressing any issues you may have.

Finally, Find of the Month

Every month I share an Internet destination that has some application to doing business, getting things done, or just plain cool. This month it’s a website called BuyMyTronics.com. They want to buy your used, new and broken Electronics today! They offer a fast, simple, and eco-friendly way to get money for your devices. Following up on ‘The Story of Stuff” and in light of needing a little extra $$$ for gas ($3.89 a gallon is as cheap as it gets around here) I thought it appropriate.

Wrap up

That’s it for this month of DesignDetails. Let me know if you have any questions about any of this content.
I am always on the lookout for article ideas. If you are facing a challenge or have a question relating to the Internet or design and are willing to share, please let me know. I can answer your questions and share with everyone—with anonymity of course.

If you like this e-newsletter, consider forwarding to a friend. Thanks for spreading the word.

Do you know someone in need of expert help or advice with web communications? I always welcome your referrals of friends, colleagues and family. And let me know if you welcome referrals as well.

I’ll talk to you again in May.

Bert Mahoney AIGA
Publisher, DesignDetails
Principal and Creative Director
HamiltonBerchman Design Group, Inc.
Director of Internet Strategy and Services
AIGA Santa Barbara

AIGA | the professional association for design

Design Details – March 2008

March 28th, 2008

Volume 02 // Number 03

March 2008

In this issue

• Spring Has Sprung
• Fail Your Way To Success
• Find of the Month

Hi,

This email newsletter comes to you in HamiltonBerchman’s never-ending pursuit of helping our clients and friends succeed.

Spring Has Sprung

At least here in Southern California spring has arrived. The smell of the orange blossoms fills the air in the Ojai Valley and to me that is the arrival of spring. The office is busy, as we get ready to release our new web site next month. Our web site will have archives of DesignDetails, our blog, portfolio, ways for you to interact with us, and more (details to follow). This month’s topic is a bit more philosophical than some of our more ‘nuts-and-bolts’ topics so we will get right to it.

One last thing, if you like this e-newsletter consider forwarding this to a friend. We always like referral subscribers. Thanks for spreading the word.

Fail Your Way To Success

A blog post I read recently used the phrase you just read, “Fail Your Way To Success.” I had to read that post just based on the title alone. I thought, “How can you fail to succeed?” And I have been ruminating on it ever since.

We are all creatures of habit. We do certain things a certain way. We all like some degree of predictability in our lives and cherish the security in knowing that some things will always be. However, when it comes to our professional lives, our ‘career’ lives, predictability can sometimes be not so predictable. Economies change, businesses change, people change and we can influence these things but really we do not have complete control over them. We are seeing some of this play out on the U.S. national scene now in the financial markets with regard to the economy as a whole. No one person has complete control. But people can influence what is going on.

In my business, a service business, things are constantly in flux. Clients come, clients go, people’s needs change, projects change, but there are some constants. I perform my processes and tasks for projects in a consistent manner. I control how they are carried out and can create some sense of predictability with how things will go. These are things that I know are a part of what I do and what I create. However, what about the unknown things? What about new challenges and the risks and rewards associated with them?

This is where failing comes into play. We like our comfort zones, so taking risks and stepping outside those zones creates the possibility of failure, or success! I’ll admit I have a deep seeded fear of failure. For me to declare I was starting my own business was risky and took an enormous leap of faith. I’ll admit I was scared as hell at failing. But here I am, still at it. Although now the challenges that I face are different than they were when I started out in this business. I am feeling a sense of failure in a few areas of business because things are not going how I envisioned them. From this I know that what I am presently doing is not working. The great thing is I have opportunities and options—as we all do—to make a change towards something else.

If I fail at something in business I see it as an opportunity to learn and make a more informed decision going forward. So, in a sense even though there is a part of me that has a fear of failure, there is a part of me that knows without failure there will be no success. Get up and get moving! Make a change, try something different, fail your way to success!

I wonder, do you have a fear of failure? Do you have any stories of where failure led to success? I would love to hear them, let me know.

Finally, Find of the Month

In every issue I share an Internet destination I have come across that has some application to doing business, getting things done, or just plain cool. This month it’s a website called The Story of Stuff, http://www.storyofstuff.com. From their web site, “The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world.”

I took time to watch the video and was fascinated at what I saw. If it helps create a little awareness in you, you might want to pass it along.

Wrap up.

That’s it for this month of DesignDetails. Let me know if you have any questions about any of this content.

I am always on the lookout for article ideas. If you have a challenge or question you are facing relating to the Internet or design and would be willing to share, let me know. I can answer your issues here and share with everyone—with anonymity of course.

I’ll talk to you again in April 2008.

Bert Mahoney AIGA
Publisher, DesignDetails

Principal and Creative Director,
HamiltonBerchman Design Group, Inc.
details@hamiltonberchman.com

Director of Internet Strategy and Services
AIGA Santa Barbara

AIGA | the professional association for design