While every designer likes to think they are a unique and special snowflake who has their own ideas to bring to the world, no one exists isolated from Graphic Design in the world and we’re all influenced by it.
Graphic Design Trends
Attempting to educate myself on recent trends I found the below video, which looks through a bunch of current design trends. While a some of them have been popular for a few years now (Flat Design for example must have been trendy for around 5 years by this point), it’s interesting to watch and see which ideas jump forwards and spark ideas.
Here we go again!
First time I watched this video, I saw the version where he forgot to do number 5, so had to go back and watch the fixed version (below). Enjoy what he’s got to say, and if you feel the desire to discuss anything mentioned in the video, or just want a chat, get in touch.
As a design team, we’ve noticed that we pay more attention to uses of design and colour more and more, maybe as we grow more sensitive to the choices within these, and maybe as we seek more sources to steal ideas from . . .
Colours
But for whatever reason I noticed the below video which discusses choices of colour within movies, and was gripped, my mind started racing as I absorbed the explanations of these and wanted to rush off and take advantage of something I had just learned. Fortunately a project passed over my desk within a few days, and I was able to take some of the colour choices and reasoning and turn it into something creative for a client.
On with the show
Anyway, have a watch of the video and if you have any insights or want to talk then please get in touch.
We have the great joy today of launching a website IrvineAccommodation.co.uk, combining booking facilities for The Harbourside Hotel, The Marina Inn and The St Andrews Guesthouse.
While we still have a number of the rooms to photograph, Andy Tremble of the Harbourside Hotel is keen to get the site launched, so we will be continuing to add content over the coming days and weeks.
We’ve had a great time preparing this website for launch, from getting to see the great rooms and facilities at the various sites, getting to visit and photograph some of the attractions nearby to let guests see what they can do while visiting the town.
We’ve also been getting to sketch the layouts to these hotels, so not only can you see every room, but you can see exactly where in the building the rooms are. Don’t want to walk up too many stairs?, well you can see whereabouts your room is, want to see if you can book two rooms next door to each other, check them out on the maps. Two of which you can see on this page. We had fun preparing them to look like blueprints sitting on desks, useful but eye-catching and good-looking too.
We’ve really tried to bring you through the entire journey, greeting you with a map on the front page, so you can see where in the town these sites are, through seeing where your room is, right to panoramic pictures of the rooms.
Beyond that is a booking system, which allows you to select the dates you want to stay, and it handles credit card payment for booking the rooms.
So please check out the site, see the great offers that Andy can offer through his new site, follow him on Facebook for more news and offers.
While she’s a little shouty for my tastes, Amy in the video below makes some good points. That Facebook isn’t your Website, and if you’re using it that way, you’re using it wrong and aren’t getting the best out of it as either Facebook or as your website.
What’s the difference?
Facebook is a fantastic communication tool, but that’s what it is, where your website is your catalogue, a way of presenting information about yourself, your products and your way of doing business. But it’s mainly static, a set piece of work that people can go to and find out information about you and your business.
What’s Facebook for?
Social Media, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc, are not designed for that purpose, and while you can do some amazing things putting wares for sale on Facebook, and using the image galleries to present information, as these pass into history they become harder to find and use. Social media is about the now, about presenting new and interesting information to people.
Social Media is all about being Social!
But it’s mainly about being Social, about communicating with people, be they friends, fans or clients. Using Social Media to reach out and communicate with people, to let people ask questions, deal openly with customer queries and complaints, to show how well you deal with people and the great service you offer. That’s where Social Media offers businesses great value, but just using it to dump some information on and use it as a free website, that just won’t work.
Enough already, on with the video!
So, have a watch of the video, and let me know what your thoughts are.
Browsing my way through YouTube earlier today as I often do, I stumbled upon the below video about building a website. While I agree with some of the points, I don’t think he’s right on all fronts. However, he’s right to a certain degree, and I have to admit with certain services he names, there’s many hidden costs, so while it’ll look free, and claim it’s free, but at the end of the day you’d have saved time, saved money, and gotten better product if you’d gone to a professional straight from the start.
Anyway have a watch and let me know what you think.
There’s nothing wrong with my website, it’s fine! Why would I want to waste the money on a new one?
Is this what you think? If so, now may be the best time to invest in a new website.
1. You’ve no idea who is visiting your website
If you have no idea who’s visiting your website, why do you even have one? It’s really important to see how many visitors you are getting, and where they are coming from, so you can identify where to improve. Eg if your site isn’t bringing in organic traffic from search engines such as Google, it could be your site is not optimised correctly. Being found on Google is an absolutely vital way of getting free enquiries that haven’t cost you anything.
2. Your website isn’t mobile friendly
As we’ve gone on and on about, mobile websites are becoming more and more important. Consumers are always on their phones, tablets and other devices, and Google knows this and has begun prioritising sites which take this into account. So if your website doesn’t come up on a mobile device, it’s super tiny or if it looks like it’s broken into pieces, then it’s time for a look at a redesign. All of our websites are responsive meaning no matter what device you are on, the website looks good and ‘responds’ to the device it’s being viewed on.
3. You can’t be found in search rankings
Being found in the search engines is important. It helps drive the right traffic to your website and in turn, helps you increase bookings. While there’s no magic bullet here which will guarantee you top rankings, and to be perfectly honest, anyone who tells you that the can guarantee it, is a liar. All our sites are designed to be search engine friendly, announcing new content to the search engines and making sure they are easy to locate.
4. You spent a lot of money on your current website, but you hate it
It can be hard to swallow the costs involved in redesigning your website after you spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on it just a few short years ago. But if you want to do well online you need to change and update your website every few years, if not sooner. It’s important to stay on top of new technology, code and online methods of driving traffic to your website. And if your website bothers you because it’s not much to look at, or it functions poorly – then don’t let money be the motivator (or lack thereof) in why you’re not redesigning. The reward of a new website will kill any ill feelings you had about your old slog of a site by increasing visits and ultimately, sales and bookings.
85% of users think the mobile site should be as good, if not better than the desktop version.
Every year, security analysts release a list of the top passwords used. These are usually compiled from the various lists of usernames and passwords which are leaked from hacks, such as the Yahoo hack of 2016 (which compromised almost 1 billion accounts.
No matter how these lists are compiled, they usually make interesting reading, this years report is by Keeper, a company that provides software to keep your passwords safe (I’m not commenting on their services, just stating what they do).
And the top 25 are. . .
123456
123456789
Qwerty
12345678
111111
1234567890
1234567
password
123123
987654321
Qwertyuiop
Mynoob
123321
666666
18atckd2w
7777777
1q2w3e4r
654321
555555
3rjs1la7qe
google
1q2w3e4r5t
123qwe
zxcvbnm
1q2w3e
Well, I think we can see where most of those come from. Apart from the number 15 and number 20 positions (which are guessed to be fake accounts created by bots for spam purposes, where the bots were programmed to use standard passwords), the passwords are either easily guessable ones (password, google, etc) or patterns of keys on the keyboard (qwerty, 123456, 1q2w3e, etc).
From a personal point of view, I find it interesting to see the passwords evolving over time, especially the long period of time I’ve been involved in computing. While the “qwerty” and “password” ones have always featured on the list, back a decade or two ago the passwords were far more geeky, with “dragon” being one of the most popular, along with “ncc1701” (the code number of the Enterprise in Star Trek), “gandalf” and “batman” always being popular. Ahh, those were the days when geeks ruled the internet.
Colours have always remained popular, “purple”, “orange”, “green” still showing in lists of passwords, so just in case you want to hack a co-workers email, ask them their favourite colour and you stand a better than average chance of guessing their password.
So if your password is on this list, obviously change it, choose something personal, and then stick random capitals in it and some numbers somewhere, and it should be pretty safe, but if you’re sticking with something obvious, you’re just asking for your email account to be hacked.
A mobile user is 67% more likely to purchase online on a mobile compatible website.
Hello and welcome to Trump Trumps. It’s a version of the classic Top Trumps game, we’ve taken a bunch of The Donald’s statements, and rated them for Sexism, Racism, Bulling, Boasting and we’ve even counted up the mentions for each on Google. You or the computer goes first, and selects whichever of the headings they think is better than their opponents. The winner gets both cards, and gets to choose next.
We’ve tried to rate them all as fairly as we could, but the scores vary wildly, as Mr Trump is often sexist or racist, but rarely both. We’ve played it a bit and it’s possible to win and lose.
The cards each have a video of the particular occasion embedded in them, so have a watch, and have a cringe at the fact that the future President of the United States actually said that stuff.
Enjoy.
We’d just like to take a moment to congratulate our client Catherine Hamilton Hat’s and Fascinators on being a finalist in the Scottish Confetti Wedding Awards once again. We made Catherine a shiny new website earlier this year www.hatsandfascinators.net , and we’re all really, really proud of her. She’s up against four other amazing accessory suppliers, in the Personal Accessory Supplier of the Year Award category.
Good luck Catie, we wish you all the best and look forwards to hearing the results on the 29th of January, we hope you have an amazing (and winning) night.
