I’ve created a new website for Mike Kennedy’s campaign for CdA city council. I do a fair amount of work with Mike at Intermax Networks and I have known him for many years. The graphics which include yard signs, hand bills, this web site, a 60 sec video spot (commercial) and other collateral. We are also talking about a billboard and voter registration cards. Anyway, it is good work for a great guy who lets me have the creative freedom to incorporate my ideas into his overall campaign strategy.
Web design is a curious thing. As certified control freaks, most designers have an desire to be able to control every element of a project. But to be honest, unless a designer can write the code for themselves, we are at the mercy of the person(s) who did. This means working within a box of sorts. This box contains a thousand pieces of a puzzle, some pieces which can be moved about at will and some pieces that must be placed in the right spot, at the right time.
This week I have been working on two such projects. The first project was a move from one host to another. This entailed backing-up the existing database, custom site-styles and themes; moving the domain to another account, setting up that account, creating a new database, installing the blog engine, and then restoring the style and repopulating the database.
In the end it all came together perfectly. Which is saying a lot, when you realize how much can go wrong.
The second project was an evolution of an ecommerce site. This site has 50+ products of different styles, sizes and attribute based prices. It also has a FedEx shipping module that needed to be customized. Again. With so much that could go wrong it was amazing to me how much went right.
I love giving my clients a great price on functional design that does not break the bank.
Between my bouncing around in advertising, web design, and illustration, my summer activities have included a new commitment to finish my children’s book. It is nothing of great importance, but if opposition is a measure of anything worth doing, then it must be of some value. Along with this undertaking, I am putting finishing touches on a English/Spanish flip book that may have some merit. When these are done I will offer them as e-books as well as your typical case-bound hard copy versions.
There is a great amount of discussion lately on the validity of this new wave of “freeconomics” that seems to power the web. Within this idea, the creation of products (like books) are no longer the end focus. Rather; creating a channel where people can connect and take part in the evolving stream of conciseness, seems to be the order of the day. Within this collective hand wringing, products can be purchased, of course, but the driving distribution paradigm is in the building of this hive mind.
It is a dichotomy of sorts. Much like building a boat in the middle of a desert or building the same boat in the middle of an ocean; too early or too late can kill you.
Some have espoused social networking as a safe middle ground for the exercise. It is a natural base to gather a collective of “followers” if only passive in nature, and use it as a jumping off point for when you are ready to leverage the power of your channel (or network).
Along with this network, is the idea of “giving away” your product. For example, giving away an e-book that can be read on a iPhone, tablet, or computer. People watching such things say that free e-books drive sales to hard copy books of a more traditional nature and profit margin. I have reservations as how long this will last as technology becomes more and more portable over time. It feels like a transition solution. Still, the idea has merits.
It is all very interesting from many points of view. The new breed of publishers, marketers, advertising aficionados, and content producers are looking at this and saying: Hmmmmmm. Myself included.
I’ve created a new website for Mike Kennedy’s campaign for CdA city council. I do a fair amount of work with Mike at Intermax Networks and I have known him for many years. The graphics which include yard signs, hand bills, this web site, a 60 sec video spot (commercial) and other collateral. We are also talking about a billboard and voter registration cards. Anyway, it is good work for a great guy who lets me have the creative freedom to incorporate my ideas into his overall campaign strategy.
