“Narrowing down your design preferences”
CSS Zen Garden
Sometimes a tricky process during a website design or redesign project is to figure out what kind of a general look and feel the client wants for the new site. Asking a client to “just go find some sites you like and send me the links” is a bit like asking “just go find some stars in the sky you like and point them out to me.”
Introducing an old favorite of mine: CSS Zen Garden. It’s great when a client can visit this site and send back links to two or three designs that feel right for the project we’re working on together. The CSS Zen Garden is also a superb place to demonstrate how form and content can be separated from one another. A properly built website will have the ability to change form at a later date with a minimum penalty, i.e. having to rebuild content.
Flash Site for GCI
Working from Illustrator mockups (graphic design by avantgarde) this 100% Flash site was built with gorgeous full-screen portfolios, custom text and photo scrolling classes and efficient loading / pre-loading behaviors.
www.gci-sf.com
GCI is a succesful San Francisco based commercial contracting / construction management firm.
“What makes a great newsletter?”
Click to see the whole newsletter
Here’s an example of a really super email newsletter. Even if you’re not a Yogi, it should be clear that this newsletter offers real value to its readers.
Here’s what makes it so great:
- It’s not too long: You don’t have to set aside a special time in the day to read the whole thing. It’s distraction friendly.
- The marketing ‘call-to-action‘ — the teaching schedule — is nicely separated out in the sidebar and highly visible, and it doesn’t overwhelm the newsletter with self-promotional material.
- The introduction is personal and friendly and is relevant to the intended audience.
- The cooking recipe at the bottom gives the newsletter real value. This is giving something away for free, and it’s a great incentive to keep visitors subscribed to the newsletter.
- The overall layout is easy on the eyes, and has a good balance of text to images.