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My Favorite Design Links of the Week

admin — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 21:27:38 +0000

Even though it’s only been eleven months since my last favorite links post, I’m going to pile another one on (and try to get back into the habit). Enjoy this mixture of inspiration and innovation selected from my Twitter stream…

Is Social Media Killing Authenticity? http://bit.ly/d5l4rX
45 Mobile Web Designs To Show You One Of Future Trends http://j.mp/9VC5Jk
Posterous Adds Pages for Static Content http://ow.ly/1UiL6
Cross-Browser Testing: A Detailed Review Of Tools And Services http://ow.ly/1UeUV
WordPress 3.0 for Web Designers http://bit.ly/cTDSLv
How to Make Twitter More Useful for Your Business http://bit.ly/96geYw
Don’t just blog – Create an Experience! http://bit.ly/a3v70c
12 Tips for Formatting Better Blog Posts http://bit.ly/duNTlc
6 Ways to Constantly Produce Quality Blog Content http://ow.ly/1TVeY
35 Fresh FreeFonts for Designers and Developers http://bit.ly/9xvcB5
35 Unique Examples of Vintage Design http://post.ly/iNVw
Entrepreneurs and Personal Branding http://bit.ly/bWRqVY
25 Characteristics of Highly Effective Social Media Campaigns http://ow.ly/1TOju
7 Ways to Market Your Business on Facebook http://bit.ly/avtOk2
Getting Ready for a Website Redesign: Advice, Resources and More http://ow.ly/1TNTg
50 Websites You Won’t Believe Are Using WordPress http://ow.ly/1TCxL
10 Church Branding Myths – via @SteveFogg http://ow.ly/1TChV
5 Simple Rules for a Better Blog Design http://bit.ly/dvqG5p
Nice showcase of Websites with a lot of colour to them – http://bsa.ly/12c
How to Pitch Your Blog to Potential Advertisers http://fuel.bz/Mkf
Getting Started: How Wufoo Went from Concept to Launch http://bit.ly/bFKH0u
Getting Started With E-Commerce: Your Options When Selling Online http://tinyurl.com/2wcflx6
How to Build an Awesome Online Presence http://bit.ly/b9uo2k
12 Portable Apps for Web Designers http://bit.ly/ckbvvn
12 Reasons to Use Social Media to Grow Your Business http://ow.ly/1SJ7G
How to Dominate Your Niche Without Apology http://bit.ly/9mnVKe
Profiting From Other People’s Content http://bit.ly/c9syqT
4 Reasons to Add a Podcast to Your Blog http://bit.ly/cCYyjn
Robb Sutton Lists 30 of the Most Influential Bloggers of 2010 http://bit.ly/atmc2w
A Guide to Google Font API http://bit.ly/bHycoW
92 Essential Social Media Resources http://bit.ly/9BRDLq
60 Excellent Examples of Illustration in Web Design http://post.ly/i11g
25 Simple Ways To Earn Trust http://bit.ly/8Z8gY1
Vlogging + Design = Future? http://is.gd/cwQYh

Did I miss your awesome resource? Add a link in the comments!

Featured in Smashing Magazine's Effective Twitter Backgrounds Article

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:12:53 +0000

Of all the design periodicals and blogs I read online (and trust me, they be many!) none surpasses Smashing Magazine in scope and quality. So when a friend pointed out that my Twitter background was featured in their recent post, I was pretty excited. It’s an excellent post with some great guidelines and suggestions about how to design an effective background, and mine somehow landed in the list of some really great creative backgrounds. Check it out…

Effective Twitter Backgrounds: Examples and Best Practices

One Thing That Really Annoys Me About Twitter

admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:13:51 +0000

I like Twitter. It’s kind of fun. But here’s something that annoys me…

That’s a little clip from TweetDeck and shall remain as anonymous as possible because I think the guy who wrote it is very nice, has a nice approach to the world around him, and is generally a good guy. Now with that disclaimer out of the way, let me tell you some reasons why this particular tweet (which represents a few others I’ve received) annoys me…

1. Notice the exclamation point at the end (“!”), hence giving some note of authority, like a life guard, or a security guard, or some other kind of Twitter-community-approved voice of the masses.

2. This is the very first response, reply, or conversation I’ve ever received from this particular person – where’s my positive+negative+positive sandwich? Where’s the “Hey, I’m Bob – I like you but…” intro? (No, the tweeter’s name is not Bob.)

3. Following someone is a choice. If I annoy you PLEASE unfollow me and spare me the emotional carnage of a critical tweet. I’d prefer it. Besides, as nice as you may be, my self-image really has zero to do with who follows or unfollows me, so by all means, unfollow me if I annoy you. I promise not to lose a moment’s sleep over it.

4. I’m kind of tired of all the rules… don’t overtweet… don’t undertweet… don’t tweet too many links… don’t just tweet words without links… don’t tell us what you’re doing… be more real and tell us what you’re doing… rules, rules, rules. I really like relationships better than rules.

5. Twitter isn’t email. It takes about 17 nanoseconds to scroll past a tweet – I think the government has actually spent billions testing this. So you don’t have to read it all.

6. Twitter is about what’s relevant in the world, or on the web, or in a niche. Don’t like my niche? Don’t care what I find relevant? Perfectly fine with me – again, that’s why there’s an unfollow button – and I won’t even be mad at you.

This is a rant. They’re rare in my little world. And it’s not a rant toward Bob… or Sally… or whoever left that tweet above (he/she really is nice)… it’s just a little personal annoyance of mine and I’m going to go on and have a really great day. And I’m still going to tweet a lot because I like to point out things that are relevant. For every negative tweet I’ve gotten, there are a hundred RT’s and thanks’ for the resources.

Now what? Here are some possible responses for you… Follow me, unfollow me, ignore this and go read something much more meaningful, or comment below if you so feel inclined to agree or disagree. Just watch the exclamation points.

22 Designers I've Recently Followed on Twitter

admin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:54:59 +0000

No need to blow this post out of proportion – it’s not a “40 of the world’s best designers you absolutely must follow today!!” lists. Rather, it’s a simple listing of 22 designers or design-related entities I’ve followed recently that I find interesting. That’s all…

Getting Started with Social Media

admin — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:35:45 +0000

Let me say this loud and clear – I am not an expert on social media. Neither are most of the people who are charging high consulting fees and proclaiming themselves to be so – just read Rob Bowen’s excellent article on the subject and you’ll understand what I mean by that.

Social media is new. It’s developing. Companies are growing and failing daily in this arena. Nonetheless, there are some things I’ve observed having been active in social media for a year and a half now (longer than a few other “experts”). I know that freelancers, companies, and organizations are lining up for information on how to get involved – I talk with them quite often.

If your knowledge doesn’t really extend beyond email, here are some of what I would consider to be your “next steps…”

1. Don’t put all your eggs in the basket of social media. I start off with this one on purpose. People online like to talk about the “social media revolution” and that this is the “wave of the future.” True. Social media may kill newspapers after all, but the reality is, you probably still have a large customer base not on Twitter. Keep marketing in the ways that work – you can be a student of the future at the same time.

2. Visit the following four sites and complete the following five steps on each (where applicable)…

and the five steps…

Join. Pick the same username at every place, and make it match your brand if possible.
Set up your profile and don’t be arrogant. Be personal and touchable.
Link them together and link them back to your main site as much as possible.
Join groups (particularly LinkedIn and Facebook) that pertain to your niche and add some friends with similar interestes.
Observe for a minimum of one week. Don’t sell. Don’t link to anything. Watch. Listen. Learn.

3. Subscribe to feeds. It’s easier than it looks. Sign up for Google Reader. Then when you’re on a site that offers valuable information about your niche, look for the universal sign of an rss feed’s presence, the feed icon (see the image on the right). Click it and “subscribe” in Google Reader. Now every time you open Google Reader, that site’s new content will be waiting on you. It’s like email, but so much better. You don’t have to read it all and if you get in too deep, “mark all as read” and restore the sanity to your life.

4. Start giving. That doesn’t mean you have to give stuff away, it just means that you need to establish yourself as a giver, in general. Pass along helpful and meaningful information. Add value to the lives and livelihoods of others. Support people. Help people. Encourage people.

5. Build a community (aka, a tribe). After you’ve observed quietly, and after you’ve contributed something to others, then and only then do you have my permission (though I’m really not an expert…) to ask for anything. When you start asking for support, be reciprocal.

6. Explore the vast and wide-open space that is social media. In time, you’ll understand why I “share” Google reader items, “stumble upon” great links, bookmark resources in “delicious,” and pass along inspirational things via “Posterous.” But all of that will come in time.

7. Have fun. He who dies with the most friends on Facebook should have had more of an offline life… and yes, he still dies.

By the way, I could be dead wrong about all of this, but it’s what I did about two years ago. I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference… or something like that.

photo credit: wirralwater

Five Things About Twenty Twitterers

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:44:59 +0000

Grace Smith has put together a really great blog post asking twenty Twitter users to share five random facts about themselves. What’s nice is that I communicate with quite a few of the people on the list almost daily, but now feel that I know them just a bit better. Great idea, Grace! Go check it out…

Five Things You Didn’t Know About Me

What You Missed While Twitter Was Down

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:53:20 +0000

Disclaimer: Absolutely NONE of this foolish rubbish actually happened…

photo credit: Torley

So surely you heard about the social media meltdown today, right? If not, perhaps it was because your only source of news about the world around you (Twitter) was unavailable in a cruel, twisted catch-22! So what happened during the 2 hours that Twitter and Facebook were down? Here’s the scoop as I heard it straight from the whale’s mouth, who heard it from a friend of a follower of a fan…

First, there was looting and pillaging in the interwebs. The front windows of several ecommerce stores were broken out and virtual goods ransacked! Cheth Studios, owned by @cheth, had several precious icons stolen. It was absolute mayhem… or at least there was a strange silence heard ’round the world as @mayhemstudios was unable to tweet a single resource.

The stock market suffered violent, cliff-hanging, nail-biting dips and crashes due to the billions of dollars not made by @guykawasaki‘s ad-laden (but truly interesting) tweets. The madness settled in on @scobleizer thought it was his fault for paying a developer for a script to unfollow 106,000 people in a single day. He took on a strange green appearance and seemed as if to be transforming into the Hulk himself!

One family bought out the local IGA’s entire stock of canned pinto beans and panty hose, then sacrificed all of their pets in an effort to stockpile for the #twitpocalypse, round 2. @DrRus, @bobhallam, @ScottSCarver were interrogated by international criminal investigators for an alleged plot to “take over the world via Twitter.” No word on who the “rat” was that turned them in.

Hospitals filled to capacity and triage (sp?) centers were established in barricaded intersections to deal with the flood of marketers, MLM, and social media experts who were suffering from severe withdrawals of a salty, ham-like substance also known as, uh, spam. Meanwhile, FriendFeed was abuzz with conversations about its inherent superiority. That was precisely where @imjustcreative was overheard to simply observe about this whole debacle, “#kaboom.”

Oh, @aplusk surged further ahead of @cnnbrk… but still no one really cares.

Ten Suggested Tweets For Your Trip Away from Home

admin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:57:35 +0000

If you tweet much at all, and you go on vacation, you’re bound to want to tweet about your trip. But you could tweet your way to being robbed. You’re telling everyone about being away from home, after all. So @nealwiser and I did a bit of brainstorming about some great vacation tweets. Wanted to pass along, strictly out of concern for your personal property, of course…

Protect Your Home in 140 Characters or Less!

Forgot to feed our six pit bulls! Hostel gets especially grumpy when he’s hungry!
Wish we could have gotten the gas leak fixed before leaving home, but were distracted by the other foul odor from the basement.
About to stop at this army surplus store to pick up some trip wires – want to add to our exotic booby trap collection.
We needed this holiday badly – after the HAZMAT team pretty much moved in and declared martial law at our house.
Just figured out that foul odor, it’s the spoiling dynamite next to the pilot light of the furnace. (via Neal)
Wow, these sand dunes remind me of the dessert where I lived during my training as an international assassin.
Just had to get away from our redneck neighbor. His obsession with sawed-off shotguns and his drinking problem don’t mix!
We picked this week due to that Nostradamus prediction about a meteor destroying our neighborhood. Hope he’s wrong.
Left so we could bug-bomb the house after those giant cockroaches carried off two of our children to the bigger ones.
As soon as we get home, we’re calling the tiny little lady from Poltergeist… we’ve got some issues we need “handled.”

photo credit: MeaganJean

My Mugshot by a Friend Made Via Twitter

admin — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:45:19 +0000

This is cool! My friend Pablo Aviles, a designer/developer from Costa Rica, took a lot of his friends made via Twitter and made a mug. Look close, I’m the green guy, third from the left on the very top row. What’s cool to me is that I recognize many of the faces/avatars because of the connections I’ve made around web development via Twitter. Sweet.

And if you haven’t already (assuming you’re on Twitter), you should definitely follow Pablo.

Twitter: A Case for Not Following Everyone

admin — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:36:11 +0000

I’m writing this article with the assumption that you’re already a bit familiar with Twitter. If so, then you’ve no doubt struggled with the question, “do I follow everyone back?” There are a range of opinions and mine has, admittedly, flip-flopped quite a bit over time, but I’ve finally settled in on a particular approach and wanted to make a case for it.

First, you need to understand that I worded the title of this post carefully. I’m a little annoyed at how strongly opinionated people can be about this issue. I’m not making a case against following everyone back. In fact, for brands, news organizations, and a few other uses, it’s probably more ideal to do so. It depends on your purpose for being on Twitter. Instead, here are some simple observations I’ve made in my own approach.

“Following” should mean something. It should say, “I find this person valuable to me personally.” Yes, everybody’s valuable, but are they valuable to your particular needs and interests? I’ve trimmed my list of people that I’m following, and while there are plenty more great folks I’d like to follow, I can honestly say that anybody on my list is worth your time.
Following everyone means enabling and encouraging abusers. As I went through my following list this last time, I found some people whose profiles and tweets were rather objectionable to me for a variety of reasons. Not only do I not want their tweets in my timeline, but I also don’t want their avatars in my friends list for others to see.
Following everyone pollutes the stream. One of the things I like about Twitter is the idea that relevance rises. Things that are interesting and important rise to the top, but if you’re following too many people, you’re looking for the relevance through muddy waters. I know there are tools that allow grouping of friends, but it seems redundant to have to select people to follow from among the people you follow.
Following everyone spreads your conversation thin. It’s tough to form a close network of helpful friends when you’re trying to communicate with so many.
Following isn’t necessary to the conversation. Sometimes I participate in a chat for web designers. I converse with all kinds of designers that I don’t follow, and who don’t follow me. Search and trending topics make this possible.
Follower counts give a false impression of genuine influence. As I searched through my following list, I noticed a couple of things. One is there would be page after page of people with whom I had no familiarity or history at all. We were in different niches altogether and it was obvious our mutual follow relationship was for no other purpose than to give each of us another number in our follower count. The other thing I noticed is that obvious spammers have managed to build up large numbers of followers in spite of breaking all the unwritten (and sometimes written) rules. Why? Because so many people follow everyone back. Follow enough and you’ll get a high count, whether you influence anyone or not.

Having said all of that, I suppose it only proper to address the issue of how I determine whom to follow, which is tough. I ask these kinds of questions: Do I know them? Have I conversed with them in a meaningful way? Is the content of their stream valuable to me and to others? Are they just hoping to sell me something? Are they tweeting about a niche I’m interested in? Beyond those kinds of questions, I take it a follower at a time.

Furthermore, when you break the addiction to the follower count and following back, you suddently realize that it’s perfectly okay to follow people of interest who will never follow you back. They aren’t snobs, they just have a different philosophy and approach. I follow quite a few people who may never follow me back. That’s perfectly okay, I can learn from them anyway.

I’m not a social media expert, per se (if you want one, there are about a million social media “experts” and “gurus” on Twitter you can follow), so I don’t have all the answers. I’m not an authority. I’m simply speaking about my own experience. And if I’ve unfollowed you, it wasn’t personal, I assure you. You’re welcome to unfollow me too, won’t hurt my feelings at all.

As far as the comments go, feel free to disagree and state your case, but be nice. I’m a firm but fair moderator. Honestly, I’m not losing any sleep over the debate. Oh, and if you’d like, you can follow me on Twitter.

44 More Resource-Providing Creatives to Follow on Twitter

admin — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:31:04 +0000

My last post of 25 creatives to follow was a hit, and from the comments I learned of some others that I wanted to feature in another post, in addition to some more that I learn from often. Also, Someone pointed out that there were only a few ladies among the entire list, so I’m giving top spots and props in this post to some twomen (I made that twerm up).

I’ve tried to collect artists from various disciplines but most will be web and graphic designers. Enjoy.

And now for some creative dudes…

Those previous four were must includes in part because of the awesome work they do for other creatives via…

Hey what do you know, I’m adding some more as I go, so it’s kind of 44+…

@straightalk

@delaneygates

If you got to the bottom of this list and were disappointed you weren’t on it, and you feel you ought to be, feel free to add your Twitter link in the profile (the whole thing, with the href and everything). I’ve had that feeling a time or two…, which reminds me, you can follow me personally as @brandonacox (my most active account), professionally as @egracecreative (fairly inactive), or even covertly as @creativecox (where I primarily observe the stream quietl

25 Resource-Providing Creatives to Follow On Twitter

admin — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:18:20 +0000

There are different approaches to using Twitter. Some just tweet their status, others try to use it for spammy purposes. My own favorite people to follow are those who pass on resources, and not necessarily their own resources. They are the creative types who retweet often when they find a great and useful link. Here are some of the Twitter users I’ve had the most fun following because they provide resources for others. They are creative givers, mostly designers and branding specialists…

Cristian Vasile

Minervity (Richard Darell)

Cameron Olivier

Mayhem Studios (Calvin Lee)

Michael Nobbs

Randy Jaegers (Just An Anomaly)

Jeff Fisher‘

Plus… (shameless self-promotion)

Brandon Cox

And as for the comments, feel free to nominate, even yourself, but remember that I moderate – I’ll glance at the profile to make sure the person is a resource-providing creative and not just someone who tweets, “I’m going to take a shower.”

People Follow People

admin — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 15:07:47 +0000

Here’s a quick tip – be human. One thing I’ve learned from Twitter is that people follow people and they “unfollow” spam. In fact, spam is detested in the twittersphere about as badly as it is in the email world. When advising companies about the use of Twitter, I always recommend letting one of the heads of the company tweet personally rather than just giving “company news.” This allows you to offer something back to the community rather than just be a taker.

This is a pretty important lesson social media has to teach medium and large companies – be a face, be a voice, and talk back. What do Chris Brogan, Guy Kawasaki, and Darren Rowse all have in common? They all love twitter and converse with their “followers.” This is also true of Karl Rove and Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s even a tiny part of why Barack Obama won the hearts of the tech generation.

This post isn’t really all about Twitter (that post is coming next week). Instead, it’s a message about business, ministry, marketing, and people. People follow people. They don’t follow “company news,” “latest deals,” or press releases about new products. So how do you become human to your potential “followers” in today’s economy?

Contribute – don’t be a taker.
Have a face, not just a logo.
Have a real name, like Bob, Tom, or Julio, not just “Gargantuan Enterprises, LLC.”
Admit mistakes, answer criticism (sometimes), and be imperfect.
Be a friend in the same way you’re a friend to your friends, if you really want new friends.
Be careful about anything “automated” or “mass.” Think “personal response.”
Use smileys. :-) and ;-) can make a somewhat argumentative statement more palatable. :-)

And the biggest lesson of all? Love people or get a job at a zoo. Here’s more about me. Want me to know about you and your message? Introduce yourself in the comments below – I promise to personally respond!

Spread the News through Social Media

admin — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 18:13:40 +0000

News flash: news spreads faster through a crowd than to a crowd. If you want to break news, whisper it into an ear and see what happens. If there is a positive word that describes our age, it’s community. Seth Godin knows this. Chris Brogan understands it. Motrin learned it the hard way. People talk.

The bad news is, people aren’t always accurate. Remember that game where we whispered something in an ear then let it travel around the circle? The story at the end was always rather embellished. We have, however, figured this out enough that we’ve become one of the most discerning and skpetical societies in history.

What are the advantages of engaging people through social media?

Connecting with disconnected people.
Immediate and bold feedback.
Marketing of the viral variety.
Popularity, re-distributed.
Profit for the good of all, not for the sake of self.

I know these are abstract ideas, so here’s a more practical way to approach social media…

Get a Facebook account.
Tweet on Twitter, and learn the rules.
Read, comment, and discuss.
Offer, give, share.
Don’t stress out – you can’t rule every network.

Will you succeed in this new arena? It’s really not up to you, it’s up to the crowd. But the crowd just might listen if what you whisper is worthy.

Jesus on Social Media

admin — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:19:54 +0000

What would Jesus do if He were physically present during this particular age, the future of which is so shaped and influenced by social media? When you examine the gospels, you see that Jesus was passionate about spending time where people gathered – public wells and bathhouses, beaches and riversides, the town squares of his day.

What I do know is that in Acts 20:35, Jesus said one of the wisest things that has ever been said… “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” In context, Paul is reminding the leaders from Ephesus that helping the weak is a very important aspect of church life, but there’s definitely a broad application of this statement that applies directly to a proper understanding of social media. With blogging, tweeting, forum participation, and online marketing, it’s always more blessed to give than to receive.

Amazingly, to leverage social media, you have to avoid leveraging social media. To squeeze it for all it’s worth, you have to avoid a traditional approach to selling. One aspect of social media I’ve come to love and appreciate is that it has forced marketers, information providers, and creatives to re-evaluate our approach to communication.

Use Twitter strictly as a self-promotion tool and you’ll lose followers. Put a subscription popup on your blog and I’ll click away nine times out of ten. Fill your content with annoying double-underlined spammy links and I’ll quit clicking anything.

If you want to make money online, be a provider and a giver before you’re a moocher and a taker. If you want to change the world, share ideas that change lives. Reward your followers, readers, and subscribers. Connect relationally to those who support you. Respond to those who reach out to you. Either people are worth the time, or you should find something else to do with it.

I think the greatest rule of the social media revolution is going to be a revolutionary thought uttered almost twenty centuries ago, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Persuade Your Audience to Listen

admin — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:30:40 +0000

Truth doesn’t change, but how truth is communicated changes and fluctuates with culture. Many organizations no longer communicate with the surrounding culture not because their message is outdated, but because their communication is out of style and out of sync. But the goal of marketing, sales, evangelism, etc. is still to persuade people to listen, to tell a story that compels people to take notice. What style works best largely depends on the age and the culture.

Attraction – Wait for People to Come

Attraction happens as we make something look good and throw it out so people will notice. Mass communication, mass/direct mail marketing, commercials and sales flyers are all attractional in approach. We saturate a community and expose our presence in an aesthetically pleasing way to draw people’s attention. Attraction is probably an element of every form of communication, but used alone, it depends on several factors. Your packaging of the message has to be attractive, unique, accessible, and it must spoon feed the audience with clear instructions.

Confrontation – Compel… Even Coerce Them

Used less but occasionally necessary, confrontation is putting your message in the faces of the audience in a bold and confronting manner. Our present culture is leaning more and more away from any receptivity to this style of communicating. The door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman was confrontational and we’ve started locking our doors more often.

Integration & Infiltration – Be One of Them

This works! Guy Kawasaki recently said he’d rather give up his cell phone for a week than Twitter. Why? Because Twitter represents the possibility of integrating a message into the everyday life of millions of users in a free system. The risk is, they’ll do with it what they will! But at least we’ll know if our message is acceptable or not.

How do you communicate your message by infiltration? It’s simple, really (almost too simple for those highly trained in the art of marketing)…

Be honest and real. Authenticity counts.
Don’t sell, don’t invite, just share.
Be yourself, be a human being.
Always have integrity.
Connect. Respond. Answer. Be available no matter how big you think you are.
Engage in the conversation, even if it’s about adopting furbies!