No More Papyrus Please!

I just read one of those lists -- 25 Reasons you might be a graphic/web designer. And all to many of them I could relate too but one of them has been a personal crusade of mine for a long time. It is to not use the font Papyrus. For the last several years -- to urge people not to use it. I said it once in a workshop I was teaching and they just looked at me like I had slapped them in the face. But I guess they just don't see how OVER used it is. To me it feels clunky with most designs. Nothing seems to mesh with it very well. So my suggestion is to not use papyrus for anything you do (I was going to add except for personal correspondence but really it even bothers me seeing it there.) Please just step away from the papyrus font! Pretty Please!

All-in-one Website Design/Hosting

Recently I came upon several artists we are acquainted with that got their website at an all-in-one place. It is a place where you can get hosting, domain, and then you can "design" your own site by simple selecting colors, layout and such but not actually design it. Which of course means most of the sites there end up looking very similar because there isn't any design to it. Those kind of sites also really limit what you can do to them. You can't have add-ons that might enhance your website. You can only go with what they allow. But really that isn't my problem with them even though I don't like it as it doesn't really express anything unique about the artist. But my main problem is that the company owns the domain. And yes I read their faq saying they will "happily" transfer it over but I wonder how hard it is actually. And their faq answer to why you should just let them handle the domain is VERY misleading. It is basically scaring the customer into just leaving it to them. If any of those artists want to move their site so that they can design something different or add on anything, the all-in-one site might fight or not relinquish the artist's website. So they are trapped in it. And that bothers me a great deal.

And just to note I am not upset that the artists didn't go with us to design their website - yes it would be great if they did but I do understand why people go with the all-in-one. It is quick, inexpensive and easy way to get yourself on the web. I would rather them choose any designer over places like the all-in-one because of all the problems that can come up with an all-in-one type site.

Web Design Tip Series: Ads

I am going to be doing a series of blog entries for making your website the best it can be but they will be posted at Reflecting Time Productions.

A little excerpt:

I have designed quite a few websites ranging from businesses to artists and one of the things people look to do is find ways on how to generate a little extra income to help offset the cost of maintaining their website. There is a growing trend among website owners to put ads on their website or blog. As tempting as this might be, most of the time it is not a very good idea.

Read the reasons why not to put ads on your website.