oneshinydome

A colleague shared an article from Mindcafe.org- “9 Brain Habits You Didn’t Realize You Had…” and ironically they’re right about the short term memory and memory in general (for me). The one take away for me which I thought interesting was number 2 – “The most visible color is Chartreuse.” After years of testing and direct marketing efforts I can truthfully say I’ve never designed a “Call to Action” in the chartreuse color. Quick reference to color theory/meaning confirms making CTA’s in Red and Orange. I will try some tests with a chartreuse CTA next chance I get just for the hell of it.

Do you think there’s any correlation between the Human Brain and the Brain of a Fish as it relates to color? I know Chartreuse is a favorite color among Bass in certain seasonal conditions – So therefore in comparison, I am lead to believe that if a Bass strikes chartreuse in murky/cloudy water, humans would take action to chartreuse in similar conditions for example; cloudy days, banners that were darker/warmer themed and email that used a warmer set of color palettes. Just a thought.

And one other note from the list ” 5) Brain is exceptionally bad at probability.” – I can relate.

Advertising, Banners, Design, Direct Marketing, email, email campaigns, Fishing, lead generation, Response A/B testing, Banners, brain, call to action, color, CTA, email, fish, human, testing

I decided to write a little about my experience with designing email campaigns for verticals. Over the last several years I’ve had the opportunity to manage a team of designers tasked with designing direct response email campaigns for over 2000 and categories within searched keywords and phrases . They ranged from Medical Transcriptionist to Lawnmower and everything in between.  I stopped really trying to build up a portfolio of them because frankly it wasn’t about the design being “pretty”, but more about being effective in terms of clicks and conversions. Recently I’ve been designing a lot for lead generation, specifically payday and travel. In any case, the experience from designing and revising creative in order to increase conversion rates has also increased my knowledge base. If you find yourself in a position within a company that shares data with you, it’s critical to your learning curve. Do you know how hard it is to convince high level executives to do A/B testing by only changing the color of a call to action? Don’t even get me started on subject lines.

Advertising, Design, email campaigns, lead generation, Technology A/B testing, categories, click thru rates, conversions, Design, email campaigns, keyword phrases, keywords, lead generation, pay per click

In my “spare time” I have been designing a new website for myself and couldn’t remember what clients referred to their project requirements back in the 90′s . So I found a pretty cool reference guide – Netlingo to remind myself of the differences. Landing Pages, Interstitial, Jump Page, Microsite, Macrosite… they all kind of ran together in the terminology pamphlets back then. Now, after reading through them again, I can decipher the needs a little better for my clients. Happy Reading.

Advertising, Design, Technology Interstitials, Jump Pages, Landing Pages, Microsites, Technology, Terms

Recently while looking for full-time employment, I stumbled upon job requirements from several searches that wanted an “Office Assistant(with web design skills)” or some that basically wanted someone that could accept an entry level salary but have the skill set of a 10 year Photoshop master! It’s funny how so many employers now are wanting an individual with incredibly rounded skill sets to come on staff for so little pay.

Just found another one:

Job Duties:
- Update Currents Websites/blogging
- SEO/SEM work
- Filing
- Assistance in Order Fulfilling
- Work with AI and Photoshop to create files
- Work with AI and Publisher to create Print Materials
- Manage Websites and Email Accounts
- Basic Knowledge of Hosting Systems
- Sales Assistance ( the right individual can obtain a commission for new business)

So you need to be a blogger, a sales assistant, fulfill orders, file stuff, have SEO/SEM experience, manage websites and be a designer. I am surprised it doesn’t request a little PHP, and database knowledge too. Basically anything that has to do with internet (because we don’t know) we want you to do for around $32,500 a year or maybe we’ll do hourly and you can cover your own insurance, how’s that sound?

Design, Freelance, Social Media Design, employer, job market, skill set

As a part-time/full-time freelancer for over 18 years now, I’ve tried to keep industry pricing for services around the same hourly rate unless the client prefers a project based pricing structure. Recently, one of my clients(middle man) needed a revision for an email design that I produced for him that he in turn, would complete for his client. At what point do you draw a line for billing your services? I spoke with a few colleagues and went with their suggestions which were invoice your services at 30 minute intervals. Even though the service may have only taken 5 minutes at most. I’m not sure how other freelancers address such issues but in any case here is an article that offers tips to freelancers.

Freelance designers, email, email design, Freelance, pricing

This seems to be all the buzz for clients I talk to. They’ll say “We really want a web 2.0 website”. When in reality, for them, it comes down to the buttons being rounded corners , the mouse over effect dramatic, and the overall look and feel very shiny, dimensional navigation. So , after researching what other people are defining as web 2.0 , I found webdesigner depot. I like the site itself and they show 25 examples of web 2.0 at it’s best. What I noticed is that many of them have the blog look to them which is fine, but definitely reinforces the word “template” back into your vocabulary. Even they notice the patterns of rounded corners, grid layouts and big shiny navigation.

Design, Navigation, Websites blogs, Design, templates, web 2.0

How long until local colleges offer courses in Application development for Apple? I recently found Stanford University offering downloads through iTunes for online training. The first Lecture started in January. Note to Self: Block out some time. Search for Stanford in iTunes – Prerequisites: C language, programming experience at the level of 106B or X. (huh?) Me=Fail

Design, Interactive, Mobi Apple, Development, iPhone, Mobi

I have finally found some time to get a blog set up. I look forward to sharing cube space.

Design Blog