The new album by Metronomy – The English Riviera is well worth listening to – one of the best of the year so far for me. Echoes of old Blur in the use of cheeky synth parts and organs. For me the bass lines make the album, think of Beatles type tone with a little slap to it all – truly melodic parts that are considered and driving.
Great harmonies throughout the album too – standout tracks are The Look, Corinne and Love Underlined.
Check out the video for their latest single The Look below and if you like it then have a listen on Spotify
Most people read differently when online, whereas reading a newspaper may be more of a cover to cover experience the web needs to have concise content that allows skim reading. I think there are a few ways you can do this:
Reduce the word count – do you really need all the words?
Stick to simple one idea paragraphs – it seems to be the best way of focusing a reader.
Put emphasis on the important content – by your tone of writing and using formatting.
Keep it friendly – try to make it approachable for anyone even if they are not familiar with the content.
I appreciate that it is hard to get the message across sometimes with a limited amount of text but it is a good thing to review your copy. I found with the Buffalo site that we kept reducing the copy until there was just the outline information about us and our work. Just keep thinking “will the user read this or even be interested?” and you will likely end up with better content.
An article that Jasper and I wrote on how we use Basecamp and version control at Buffalo was featured on the 37signals product blog.
Have a gander – hopefully someone finds it useful!
I am sure you have experienced the feeling of despair when the design you have lovingly created gets reworked by the client. They only change a few things but these things happen to be what made the design work!
When faced with this it is tricky one as you want the client to be happy but in actual fact they may not be qualified to make design decisions. People hire a designer because they don’t have those skills themselves.
When Buffalo was started we would do the odd piece of print design for people but only when we were asked. The reason? Because we are much better at web design than print design and by sticking to this approach we remain niche.
Now obviously there are different types of client but it boils down to three main types:
Those that have complete trust and give you freedom
Those that want some input in the process
Those that believe they could do the design themselves
Now obviously we want to avoid the latter type of client completely – it will be much better for you to say no to this project from the outset. However I appreciate that you can’t always do this or the problem may only appear after the contract has been signed and the project is underway.
There are a few things that I stick to when in this situation. Firstly explain exactly why I think their ideas and concerns might not be correct. I am polite but firm – whilst it is ultimately their decision it doesn’t necessarily mean they are right. I try not to settle for something that I don’t believe in until there is no other option.
The best example of this a while ago was a client logo that they had created by a design agency. It really was a bad design and the branding change made our designs look very different to our original intentions. I continued to express how awful I thought the design was and after a good amount of time they started to see that my concerns were only in their best interests and reverted. It also ties into being super honest with clients as it begins to build trust very well.
So now I:
Stick to my guns
Communicate firmly but politely
Ultimately remember who has final say!
Recently I have been feeling irritated with technology. This is kind of a problem bearing in mind I do web stuff on a regular basis! My main frustration comes with the desire for every device to do every task.
The iPhone is a great device but as you probably know from getting cut off mid call it isn’t actually that fantastic as a phone. In an old man way I miss the days of a phone doing it’s main task really well….calling, texting and maybe email.
So I have tried to move things into more distinct areas…..Kindle for reading, phone for calling, laptop for emails, pigeons for written messages…you get the idea. I mean I love gadgets but too much choice makes you unlikely to keep focus.
In the same way I like using low bandwidth internet as a restriction. I have a mobile wifi thingamajig and it isn’t all that fast. When you limit your connection speed it changes how you actually use the internet. For me that means less YouTube and more working – one of the reasons I like working on the train.
If it helps me work better and enjoy using technology then I am happy.
As early adaptors we often find ourselves craving the latest Mac, iPhone or Moleskin. But does having those things actually make us better at what we do? When I got an iPhone I thought I would be more organised because I would have all emails and calendar with me at all times. What really happens is that I am seldom without my laptop and so I don’t use my iPhone past looking at new mails in the evenings or weekend, for calls/SMS and when using Twitter.
I think I had an idea that having a Moleskine would turn me into a creative genius who doodles beautiful art in journal format but it didn’t work like that. A lot of people feel that they will be better through using the latest technology or trends but actually this isn’t the case – these things are purely a tool to get tasks done.
What really matters is trying to be original whilst being constrained – limitations and the misuses of tools can often best results. Steve Albini (Nirvana and Pixies producer) brings up a great point about the limitations of tape recording. When people worked on tape, once an edit was made it was final – when you had chopped up a section of tape if it was wrong….tough! The urgency and decision making process has suffered in modern times. No-one is forced to make a decision as they can go back to an earlier version of their work.
Imagine if the program you use most didn’t have an undo feature? How would you manage and do you think your decisions would be different?
So I grabbed a Kindle for Jasper and myself recently. I had tried a few ways of reading e-books before and short of simple reference it didn’t work for me. Reading a book an the iPad is annoying as it is too large and the backlight strains the eyes – so I just didn’t read the books at all.
The thought of getting through a fiction book without burning your retinas drifted away. That is the real test for me – managing to get through something you are reading for pleasure over anything else.
After getting the Kindle I bought Orpheus Rising by Colin Bateman as my test book. The fact that I really enjoyed the book helped but it was a really nice experience to use the Kindle.
No eye strain, super long battery life and a focus on reading….no Twitter, IM or email…..just reading. The fact that the device is devoid of extra features is the reason I really like it.
My only complaint was that it was a bit unbalanced weight wise but after I got one of these badboys it feels just right and it suits the context!
A hell of a lot of people have asked me about the Kindle on trains and the like so hopefully more will give one a go…mine is called Kindle Egg.
It has been a while since I blogged and the first post was around my thoughts on getting an iPad. 9 months on and I really haven’t used it to the extent I thought I would. While it is a fantastic little device it doesn’t really fit into how I use technology.
I spend a large proportion of my life in front of my laptop – a MacBook Pro. I can do everything on this (and a lot more) than I can with the iPad aside from the gesture/touch features. When I am travelling I really need my laptop in case I have to restart a server or upload some files. I tried taking the iPad with me to replace the laptop and it was okay but kind of annoying if I had a lot of emails to reply to.
I did take it on a break to Wales, it was handy to get information on places to visit and as a kinda Tom Tom replacement. Decent battery life, GPS, and browser/email for anything else.
But I think what I am going to try out is making it an extension of my workflow at my desk. Using the Upstand maybe in conjunction with Air Display I think I will have all to-dos or IM on the iPad. This will focus me on something specific and I can always just grab the iPad if I am out for coffee or informal meetings.
Worth a try I think….
At Buffalo we often get asked about starting an e-commerce business – it can be confusing so hopefully this will help to make things a little clearer around the technical bits. Quick note – if you are familiar with e-commerce then this probably isn’t the article for you.
Firstly you need to choose a payment provider – you really have three options:
1. PayPal. Useful for small businesses or to test an idea out as it is straight forward to set up – however it isn’t particularly flexible and can be seen as amateurish. The great thing is that anyone can apply for a PayPal account so very new businesses that wouldn’t otherwise pass credit checks for a merchant account can still trade online.
2. Merchant account and processor. The most popular option, firstly you get a merchant account with your bank to allow credit/debit card payments. Then you are able to apply to a payment provider, there are plenty to choose from but we suggest Sage Pay. Once these two things are set up you can integrate with an e-commerce system.
3. Full integration – this is for businesses who require more in-depth billing, accounting or integration with other systems. With a bespoke integration you can control more of less any aspect that is required at the cost of a longer development time.
Once you have the payment mechanism and the site ready it is good to know the kind of process an order goes through. When someone makes an order on your site an email gets sent to the user and yourself to confirm it has been placed. It is also available in the admin area of your site with PDF delivery note and payment details. At this point the payment has already been authorised and the money is then held in either the PayPal account or is sent to your bank account via your provider.
A few quick pointers from dealing with clients and especially startups….
Obviously a great idea and site goes a long way towards a profitable e-commerce business but it isn’t any easy path for a startup and requires a lot of dedication. Once you get started keep an eye on what products sell well and focus on them. This will also help you plan your buying for the next season or period. Oh and don’t under estimate spending for marketing your site too – if no-one knows about the site they can’t buy from it!
One of the ways that projects go well in my experience is by both client and agency being honest with each other. This starts from the first contact and all the way until a project ends. This kind of honesty is welcomed and we have been awarded projects because we questioned the clients ideas or were honest about their current site.
So many agencies are afraid to ask questions and are happy to just tell the client what they want to hear. This doesn’t work for us as we need to have full commitment to a project to do a good job.
If the client doesn’t respond well to constructive criticism from a professional then it may not be worth taking the project on. Whilst obviously in the early stages of business you might need to take on projects that are less than ideal I would definitely trust your gut feeling.
However it does only truly work when the client can be equally honest!