The Adventures of Cindy Li The Adventures of Cindy Li: 2009-06-22T18:13:57Z Copyright (c) 2009, Cindy ExpressionEngine tag:cindyli.com,2009:06:20 Are you ready to freelance? tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.341 2009-06-20T04:17:56Z 2009-06-22T18:13:57Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time

I appeared on the “50 Best Female Web Designers around the world” list. It’s an honor to be recognized on this list but as a freelancer you still have to work really hard to get the word out that you’re available. It’s great publicity but it doesn’t guarantee you to bring home the bacon (who doesn’t love bacon?). 

I am freelancing and am available for work (feel free to contact me). I hope this article will help other freelancers and I’ve intereviewed some other freelancers for their tips. I’ve had over 10 years of experience in large companies, startups and even designing brands for other professionals. As I get back into freelancing again I’d like to share what I’ve learned and I’ve also collected some tips from other freelancers.

Savings

Look at your savings account. Make sure you have enough for at least a few months or even 6 to cover when clients don’t pay on time. It does happen more often than you’d imagine. Plus contracts sometimes end abruptly and that income you were counting on just isn’t going to be there til you land another client. Clients also delay because they are trigger shy due to economy, or other factors that have nothing to do with you. Yes, you may have to sit through a round of its us not you. :P

Accountant

  • If you are disciplined save money for taxes by using Quicken or some financial software.
  • If you are not disciplined or get easily confused by tax forms. Speak to an accountant to figure out what taxes you will owe in each quarter. It’s called estimated taxes. Do it or pay later (possibly a lot more money because of interest later).


Health care

This is not the time to skimp. I know your sitting there thinking that your healthy, young and nothing will happen. Think again. If you could save the thousands of dollars to pay for it “if” you got ill. You would have already done so. If you are freelancing you can deduct it.

Go with a major insurance company. It’s easier and they will be less likely of denying your insurance claim vs a small company. When I was researching insurance companies I even figured out that a small time insurance company formed an independent contractor association so that they could scam money out of people. If it seems like too good of a deal it is.

Getting the word out

How do you get the word out?

  • You start by telling friends, colleagues, and Twitter of course.
  • Redesign your site.
  • Redo your resume, LinkedIn, and whatever forum you are on to let people know you are freelancing.
  • Join some groups on-line that need freelancers
  • Don’t do spec work. It devalues our business. Your mechanic won’t even look at your car for free so why should you do the same? The AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) even has an article no spec work.  a No!Spec website that has more information.
  • Always carry your business cards with you remember that American Express saying, Don’t leave home without it.



A fellow consultant, Thomas Vander Wal (he consults on strategy, mentoring, interaction design and project management) suggests, “Getting involved with user groups/meet ups with potential clients. Don’t just hang around other design freelancers.Mingle. Meet-up is a good place to link to. Make friends with developers, project managers, marketing, etc. They need your help and convince them of it.”

Matt Harris, freelance client side, and server side developer, says, “Keep an eye out for community events. They’re a great place to meet other people in the field and to keep your skills and knowledge up-to-date. Some events may be outside of your immediate area but you still try and go. Travel by train or bus to these events so you can work on the way there.” “Invest in EVDO or mobile broadband. Not only will it mean you can stay on-line when out of the office, but it also means your not reliant on conference wifi”

Craig Cook, a front end web designer suggests that, “it’s *good* to know some other freelancers and have a network of referrals and collaborators in those cases where you can’t take on a job, you can pass it on to a friend, and your friends will do the same.”

Craig and I also suggest attending conferences (which is deductible)  to meet up with other people in the field.

Setting your rate

There are some great websites such as Freelance Switch. They have a hourly rate calcuator  that you can use to help determine your rate.

Daniel Ryan, freelance front end web designer, says, “Don’t get desperate. Figure out a rate that works for you and that your market will bear and stick with it. It’s easy, especially in the early goings, to do work for less money just to get work; but that’s a hard hole to climb out of.”

Scheduling

Craig also suggests, “Don’t overextend yourself and take on more work than you can actually do just because you want the money. Schedule your time sensibly and don’t be afraid to say no if you just can’t take on a project.”

Payments

Marianne Masculino, a freelance web designer, suggests “getting a deposit and a state of work signed before starting a project.”
If you don’t have one take a look at the one that Andy Clarke wrote a contract killer post. It will help you get started.

Deductions

Getting an accountant makes it easier but you still need to know what you can deduct. Here are some tips:

  • Keep a record of your meetings.
  • Keep the receipts so you can deduct business coffee meetings, lunches or dinners.
  • Write down the mileage for your meetings from your house to the meeting.
  • Having a dedicated office space for your work allows you to deduct the square footage for your taxes

Recommendations

This takes time to build a good reputation. I’ve worked for large companies, startups, and individuals. I have had numerous colleagues vouch for me. They have helped me land the jobs because I take recommendations very seriously. I see it as a reflection of them and I want to make those that vouch for me appear even brighter for recommending me. Thankfully this has worked many times and continues. People like knowing they are getting quality work. They want you to care about their business as much as you do your own.

Another freelancer Christopher Schmitt (who is also available for web design work) suggests asking for a recommendation as soon as a successful project ends.

Take recommendations very seriously. Your colleagues and friends are putting their reputations on the line for you. Don’t make them regret it. Make them look better for it.


Hoping this helps!

]]> Go Go in flight wireless experience tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.340 2009-06-17T00:47:25Z 2009-06-17T01:46:26Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time

I decided at the last minute to attend the InControl conference in Cincinnati, OH. The cheapest flight I could find was to Dayton, OH it was an hour or so outside of Cincinatti, OH. My friend Christopher said he’d pick me up and I booked the flight on Airtran. The interesting part of the story is that while boarding my flight from San Francisco to Atlanta I noticed this sign on my plane. Airtran’s latest promotion is to have wifi on all of their planes for Summer 2009.

Airtran and Gogo wireless on my plane!

Now what is a geek girl to do when faced with a shiny new toy to play with on a plane for 5 hours? She tries it out that’s what she does! I travel with my 17” Macbook Pro, insane I know but I love it.

 

Mobile Devices

Go Go supports numerous mobile devices too.

Cost

Laptops:The cost was $12.95 for me to use the wifi on my laptop for this flight since it was longer than 3 hours. For flights less than 3 hours it was $9.95. If I flew constantly for 30 days it would be $49.95.
Mobile devices: It was $7.95 on any flight

Video Chatting on an airplane!

I wanted to kick the tires a bit and I tried out the wifi by surfing around until I did video chat with my boyfriend in England while flying somewhere over Texas.

My view:

Airtran Wifi GoGo video (my view)

His view:

The video quality was pretty good. I was surprised. I even tried the speedtest.

Speed test

Speed test while on the flight (Airtran from SFO to ATL)

I tried a music streaming site and it was seamless. The only time I had any problems was using hulu.com on the plane. It didn’t cache properly and it did hiccup a bit. I still find this advancement in technology amazing! I would do it again. Love technology and anyway I can still be connected even from thousands of feet up in the air! W00t! Thanks Go Go for keeping me connected and entertained. Now if only I had a discount next time and everlasting battery power. :)

 

 

]]> Designing Your Future: Networking without the Ick tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.337 2009-05-19T18:00:35Z 2009-05-26T18:10:36Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time…

Leslie Jensen-Inman and I were having a discussion about my visit to Chattanooga. I told her how I had spoken at my own college, UF in Gainesville, FL in past visits to advise graduating seniors on how to go about finding opportunities. Basically things that your design class doesn’t teach you. Everyone right now is trying to find a way to keep their job, look for a job or find new ways to make their situation better. Leslie suggested that I give two presentations during my visit.

We came up with two sub-topics: “Creating Your Future: Networking without the Ick” and “Creating Your Future: Creating Opportunity.” All this started out as a talk about design but its hard to separate form and function when you are discussing our passions intermingling. The first presentation was given at GreenSpaces. The second one was at CreateHere.

I’ve posted both of the slides up on slideshare but for now I’m going to write about the first presentation, “Networking without the Ick”

Lots of Conferences

(Slide 3)
I started out going to conferences because I was looking for inspiration for my career. I had been at AOL for about 7 years at that point. I wanted to leave the cocoon and find some new inspiration. My friend Elsa asked me to accompany her to SXSWi that year. What was my goal? It was to meet people and find inspiration.

Social Networking

(Slide 4-8)

  • What is your goal for networking? Think about what you want out of networking on-line or offline. Is it friends that live in your area or a specific hobby? Is it advice? Is it a job?
  • Creating Your Brand: Each of us is a brand whether we realize it or not and with each website we visit we create another instance of our brand.
  • Finding a Network: What websites are out there for us to use for our own interests? Do we start one of our own or find existing ones?
  • Privacy: Do you want privacy? Do you care? Which websites are watching out for your interests?
  • Inside vs Outside Conversations: The context of our conversations is important. Do you know who is watching you?

Vanity Check!

(Slide 9-11)
When was the last time you “Googled” yourself? We all do it. You should be doing that. You need to check your name and see what is coming up. Your friends are checking you out. Your future significant other, even the person interviewing you next week has “Googled” you.

Example: Leslie Jensen-Inman
I used Leslie Jensen-Inman as an example because I knew she was going to be there. Searching her on Google revealed that she was a professor, has written for A List Apart and is part of the Web Standards Project. Her name is really specific but what happens when we start looking for another name that is more common?

Example: Nicole Sullivan
What happens when your name is a bit more common? I used Nicole Sullivan as the next example. According to the search results she was an actress or a geek. Which one is which? So you start looking further into the search results and you realize you’re looking for Nicole Sullivan who is also known as “Stubbornella.”

The advice from this is if your not making a name for yourself, someone else is so, you need to do it. If this is part of your professional career then it is even more important that you have an online presence. When you use your handle (your name) for a website, choose your real name or find a consistent handle to use so people can associate it with you. Facebook is an example of a social networking site that forces you to use your real name. Sure there are people that will find ways around it because of privacy issues but for the majority we are looking for our friends and colleagues and we can’t remember “Simba1234” as you. So make it easier on us, don’t make us work to find you.

Creating Your Brand

(Slide 13-22)

Your Avatar:
Be consistent: pick one and stick with it. I am a visual person I remember your avatar when I’m scanning through the list on sites like Twitter. Now if you go around and switch your avatar every other week I can’t find you. Maybe you like it that way but just in case you don’t, stick with one.

Use a photo: If you have a web cam, a camera phone, or a digital camera you can take a picture of yourself. We’ve become such a shutterbug society, there’s hardly an excuse for it at this point. Now why am I saying this when I’m so in love with illustrations? For social networking sites its better to use your photos (unless you are trying to mask yourself because your ashamed of being part of the One Tree Hill fan club; which I totally understand). Use a photo because it helps us remember your beautiful smiling/quirky face. Take a look at slide 22, which one has more meaning for you? The photos or the illustrations?

Masking Effect:
There’s a wonderful book called, “Understanding Comics” by Scott Mcloud
that my friend, Craig Cook introduced me to. The book introduces the idea of the “masking effect,” which is that the illustration of a person makes them appeal to a greater audience because the recipient of the image can place their own relationships and emotions on the illustration. If we introduce a specific photo of a person there is no question that it is that person (unless you find your doppelgänger. ;) So if you are trying to connect with other people it is better to use your avatar to represent you.

There are plenty of sites out there if you do want to hide your identity or “mask” yourself.


(Slide 21)
Take a look at the community. Which person can you spot in the room while looking at the avatar? Which one would be anonymous? I’ve met people and then I’ve met people because they introduced me. We’ve been making friends and enemies since we were in grade school so we know our social networks are really powerful. The difference now is that we’re using on-line networks to maintain and explore new relationships. So we learned how to interact on-line, the question is can we do it offline again? Each of my relationships on-line have been made stronger because I had the opportunity to meet those people in offline aka the real world. We’re all running around being super busy and we’re not able to keep track of people like we would like to. Finding social network sites like Facebook, Ning, or Yahoo! Groups allows us the opportunity to stay on top of our interests and relationships.

Finding a Network

(Slide 23-25)
We’re all wanting to connect with people. We’re human. We want to find people who inspire us or can relate to us in some fashion. Don’t deny it, we just do.

Ways to Network
Attend an event and talk to the people in the group. It was much simpler when we were kids. We’d just walk up to another kid and say, “Hey wanna be my friend?” You would usually say, “Yes.” ;) In the Washington, DC area, Jason Garber started Refresh DC. I helped him by speaking at it early on and I talked about it all the time. I talked about it while I was at AOL, on the plane, and whenever I was out. If i figured out you were in the web arena I’d invite you to Refresh and sometimes if you weren’t. (Cue “guy who thought I was single and tried to find me via Refresh” story ;) ).

Upcoming.org: Find events using upcoming, some that are hobby based, professional, or even just something random. You can create events that aren’t yours, like promoting a local fair in your town. You can also create private events for events at your house. It’s pretty versatile.

LinkedIn: Find groups that interest you based on your profession. Find events that are being hosted. Join professional groups that don’t have association fees just to speak to the members.

Meetup: Another website that is based on interests. Groups schedule in-person meetups. Get it? :P

BarCamp: was started in SF and has grown into worldwide events. Anyone can start one but you will need others to help promote and organize it. People come to a designated space and camp out to speak about whatever tickles their fancy. People post topics and other people come and listen. Sometimes its rather geeky and other times its just fun. People sharing their knowledge; its a great thing.

Create your own

(Slide 26-27)
Now what if you want to create your own social network for your local book club. Some of those sites I’ve listed will allow you to do this, Ning for instance will let you create a group. It’s also good practice to check that there isn’t a local group already set up.

Inside vs. Outside Conversations

I’ve written a blog post about “Inside vs. Outside Conversations” already which explains what I’m about to say in more detail. But for those that haven’t read that…

I love Twitter but between that and Facebook we can cause a lot of trouble for ourselves, or we can watch train wrecks via our networks from the comfortable seat in front of our computer. The days where we accidentally hit reply all to a message that was meant for a specific friend is now happening on those sites. People again are reading things meant for just one person. Things are getting taken out of context and we’re all watching. Things you write on sites like Twitter can be found using a search query. Think about it. Do you really want it to be indexed? Remeber what happens on-line goes on Google. ;)

BrightKite
(Slide 30-32)
Brightkite is a location based social network. You log into the website and put in your address via the web form or use your iPhone to pin point where you are. You can post pictures with your location. You can select the level of privacy for the photo or text message. They are doing it right. They are allowing you to choose what level of privacy you want. Location is a tricky situation. Some of the people I know don’t want to be found, they have been stalked before so they are really nervous about giving their whereabouts. Giving them control over who sees the data is empowering. It is the correct usage of the technology.

Fire Eagle
(Slide 33-35)
Fire eagle was created by Yahoo! It allows you to pin point where you are. It also connects to other location based networks to tell them where you are. The great thing about Fire Eagle is that it lets you set a reminder telling you what your privacy currently is. Our needs change and sometimes we just forget what websites we use. The problem with location is that leaving it exposed makes us vulernable, so sending a reminder is really great feature. They even have a sense of humor about it, “You’ve said you’re okay sharing your location until: The end of time. We’ll contact you a couple of days before this date…”

Facebook
(Slide 36-37)
Facebook’s privacy controls are a bit more complicated like relationships.The privacy controls take a bit of exploring to work out. The easiest feature is to add someone to the block list, but even then you need to know their name and have the right instance of their name.

(Slide 38-39)
If you want to choose who gets to see your personal information on Facebook you need to decide if it is to be: “your friends”, “friends of friends”, “networks”, or those you designated as “limited profile.” There are a lot of sub privacy drop downs that will take you some time to figure out. There’s even a privacy setting for your contact information. You can choose who exactly gets your IM, mobile phone number, address, website and your email. With all these options the simplest rule is: if you don’t want people finding out about what you are up to don’t publish it.

Our relationships are complicated and the social networking sites are learning and growing every day. Think about what context you want to be seen-IF you want to be seen. Think about how your relationships offline are improved because of on-line interactions.

That’s the beauty of networking and I hope I’ve guided you through networking without the ick and the benefits of it. :D

Thank you!

I want to thank Medium (formerly Coptix) for sponsoring the lunch at Easy Bistro. It was fabulous and a great way to meet the students before I did a portfolio reivew with them.

The Design Students

I spent the day reviewing their portfolios and helping them with presentations for their future interviews. I had a great time with the students and giving them advice from my experiences. (I wrote a blog post on how to interview for a job in 2006)

The students from UTC were kind enough to write blog posts about my talk and I’m going to list them here for some link love back. :) Hopefully I haven’t left anyone off if I did contact me and I’ll add it in.

]]> Redesign of DesignRabbit tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.336 2009-05-19T14:05:00Z 2009-05-20T04:54:01Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time…

I needed a redesign and I started last year working on the logo for DesignRabbit. I created a logo that I really fell in love with but then I got busy with Yahoo! Buzz and some other projects.

Goals

My goal was to have the website showcase the designs I have been doing. I wanted people to see that my range included more than just illustrations. I’ve been designing on the web for a long time. I’ve been in the corporate world and can adapt my designs for the projects to have a consistent voice (that’ll be another post). :)  So the main focus of the redesign was to showcase the projects, setting a stage for it. The old site was hand coded in 2004 and was an exercise in coding from scratch but I should have used a content management system to keep my sanity. I wanted the website to animate and use the lightbox, be accessible and validate of course. ;)

Color Scheme

I wanted it to reflect my Cindy Li blog  but have a different palette to it. So I came up with this color scheme.

Designing the page

I started with the main page layout so it could be more of a slide show and it was framed.

DesignRabbit website redesign:Home DesignRabbit website redesign:Portfolio

I decided that the frames were too heavy but I loved the navigation. So I kept those and started over again. Plus the behavior wasn’t something that I was fond of. It was a bit too cumbersome.

Another version

I liked the lightbox javascript technique that’s been used on lots of websites lately but didn’t like the darkening out of the entire screen.So my thought was to use the advance method of the images within the page. Now with this version I wanted the work to stand on its own. I recently visited the University of Tennessee Chattanooga and spoke to the Leslie Jensen-Inman’s design students there. I spoke to them about the importance of their projects being on a clean white board so that the work was displayed as the emphasis. Realizing that I should apply what I was telling them to my own portfolio I put all my work on white backgrounds to showcase them.

Home page:

designrabbitsite_home

Portfolio page:

designrabbitsite_portfolio

Portfolio Detail page:

designrabbitsite_portfolio_detail_2

Everything so far was going fine except the “portfolio detail page” was a bit off. I decided to take out the listings of other projects because if the project list got longer then it would be scrolling further than I wanted.

Content Management System (CMS)

The site is created using WordPress.My friend Marianne Masculino was their “Happiness Engineer” and we were discussing how everyone thinks WordPress is only a blogging platform but I’ve created a few sites like Eggar’s School, that use the WordPress CMS to do more than just that.

Fonts

I used Chalet Comprime in my logo but when Matt and I started researching the usage (as he was putting it into SIFR) we read the requirements for usage. Last week I blogged about “font licensing and embedding” that it was $1700. I wasn’t kidding. So I opted for using dafonts.com’s font Lady Ice instead. It wasn’t my first choice but my budget can’t handle $1700 to use a font.

Flickr

I started putting up the designs into Flickr all on 500x500 white backgrounds.Why 500x500? The medium size for Flickr is 500x500.I decided to fit within Flickr’s image standard to make my life a bit easier. I tagged each of them portfolio and it also allows me to be found via another way on the web. The images are entered into the CMS and Matt wrote a caching system to accommodate for when there are Flickr hiccups plus improving the performance.
I’ve been using flickr to keep a repository of my work as I create it so it was easy to reuse them.

The code behind it

I roped in my boyfriend, Matt Harris into coding the website. For the geeks that want to know the details behind the site.It was written in HTML5, it uses JQuery for the animation and it is supported from IE6 and up. It is IE8 ready. It is using Cufon although we know it has accessibility issues.It uses Sprites for the navigation and the images are stored on Flickr but cached locally (in case Flickr has any hiccups) and it makes it accessible for those instances where you are prohibited from seeing Flickr (i.e. schools). The back-end uses customized WordPress plugins to handle all the custom fields required by the portfolio.

Finally

So with all the dns migration “fun” to the new space and checking on last minute bugs I hope you guys enjoy my new portfolio. :)

Design Rabbit: redesigned and launched

The new live site : DesignRabbit.

]]> Getting the most mileage on your air fare tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.335 2009-05-17T16:05:09Z 2009-05-18T00:02:11Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time…

my friend Elliot asked via twitter, “Thinking about joining an AirMiles scheme but I honestly don’t know where to start. Anyone in the know got a recommendation?” Now because I flew a lot last year and my mom taught me not to waste money I have been keeping an eye out for deals. I have been a member of many mileage programs through the years. I see it as the same as storing things into a piggy bank.

Most of my friends have been trying to figure out new ways to maximize their benefits without spending more money. This is a good way if you are being sent to conferences or business trips on your dime or somene else’s. Your miles can get you free trips, car rentals and hotels sometimes (it all adds up).
The ones I’ve listed tend to have more benefits if your on the US side of the pond. Sorry! I had nothing to do with it. :) I’ve also flown United’s more often than anything so that’s also why there is a lot more info on United.

My tips on earning miles

I’m going to list the main ones that I think you’d use. This post is going to be rather long.

Credit Card:
Sign up for one that is free and you will get miles for spending. I charged a down payment for my car last year and got miles that way. A friend of mine did it for deposits for her wedding. The key is paying it off at the end of the month. If you have the money in the bank already then do it, if you can’t help charging every chance you get ignore this. :P

Super Shuttle:
If you are going to Super Shuttle (put in your Northwest/Delta miles). Regardless if you are flying with them or not.

Hotel, Car Rental and Misc:
Check the hotel you’ve booked, flowers for your Mom, or are going to book check to see if there is a promotion for double miles if you sign. If they do sign up for it and choose the option where you can have the miles onto your favorite airline mileage program.

Netflix:
If you are going to sign up, do it through United’s site or Delta’s for the miles.

Grocery Shopping:
If you go to any of the ones listed in United’s program then its a no brainer to earn miles. You just give the program your mileage number and it keeps track of when you earn it. Best if you are using the mileage credit card on top of earning the grocery points.

United Airlines

United’s program is called Mileage Plus (U.S. website | U.K. website)
There are different tiers for member levels but it can get you things like free baggage (2 pieces if you hit the premier level) and the special line where you skip everyone :P . I have even used the link that United has to get miles for my Netflix when I signed up.

Promotions:
Check the United promotions page:
Tip:to get the most out of the program sometimes they have offers for flying that you need to sign up for before you buy a plane ticket. There’s a United flight reward chart  to see how quickly you can fly for almost free (with the taxes that you will have to pay).


Credit Card:
I’ve signed up for the United credit card because I could get miles.It’s another way to maximize your miles on things you do every day like buying clothes, groceries, gas or pay for your flickr account ;). Every now and then they also do promotions to double your miles.

  • United Visa Mileages: US credit card You get 30,0000 miles free after $250 in purchase, $1 mile for every dollar spent. The One-way, 1,000 mile, one-class upgrade certificate, and a $25 United discount travel certificate are a pain in the butt to redeem you have to go to the airport to turn them in or find a United travel agency.)
  • United American Express Credit Card: U.K. American Express Mileage website You get free annual fee and miles. You guys totally don’t get the benefits we do in the U.S. for this. Sorry. :(


Dining:
United also has a Mileage Diner’s Program, (U.S. only). You enter your credit card number (they track where you eat). Easy as long as its places you normally eat. My favorite Thai place in VA was a part of the program so it was always a bonus for me.
Just see this as a nice surprise if you get it unless you like looking up where you eat each night and if it fits within the dining program. ;)


Groceries
United has a program called Grocery Miles (U.S. only, there isn’t one for the U.K.) Where you when you buy groceries you get miles the stores currently include:

  • Saveway:Earn 125 miles for every $250 you spend in qualifying purchases
  • Dominick’s:Earn 125 miles for every $250 you spend in qualifying purchases
  • Genuardi’s:Earn 125 miles for every $250 you spend in qualifying purchases
  • Pavilions:Earn 125 miles for every $250 you spend in qualifying purchases.
  • VONS:Earn 125 miles for every $250 you spend in qualifying purchases.


Hotels:
There’s lots of various hotel offering but the hotels also have their own hotel programs too. Sometimes you have to book via the link website.


Delta and Northwest Airlines

Delta and Northwest Airlines have recently merged so its one less air mileage program you have to sign up for.Delta’s website has a chartso you can see how long it takes for you to earn a free flight. Skymiles program also lets you have Netflix (first time members deal only).

Dining:
Looks like the same program for Delta and the United deal I mentioned earlier for the Skymiles Dining program.

Shuttles:
Delta and Northwest offer you miles for booking your Super Shuttle and giving your skymiles number.
Tip:You can earn miles even if you aren’t flying with this airline. :)

British Airways

Their air miles program is called Executive Plus (you have to choose which country you are in to get the appropriate currency and access.)

Credit Card:
So BA offers you an American Express card to earn miles. If you do want to sign up let me know so I can earn miles. ;)
They have two tiers of mileage accrual based on what card you get: BA American Express or the Premium Plus Card (£150 fee) but you get faster accrual.

BA American Express Card benefits:

  • Collect 1,000 BA miles after first purchase
  • Collect 1 BA mile for every £1
  • Redeem BA miles on BA flight and you’ve spent £20,000 on your card in one year and you will get another companion for the same flight.


BA American Express Premium Card: (You have to have a certain level of in come to get this card in addition to the fee)

  • Pay £150 fee
  • Collect 6,000 miles after first purchase
  • Collect 1.5 BA miles for every £1
  • Redeem BA miles on BA flight and you’ve spent £10,000 on your card in one year and you will get another companion for the same flight.


Parking:
If you are going to use Heathrow Parking.
Holiday Extras: if you book ahead of time you’ll earn five BA Miles for every £1 you spend when booking airport parking with Holiday Extras online.


Currency:
If you are going to change money for a trip, you can use Travelex. You can do it in terminal 5 or you can order it online. You have to present your card at the time you purchase or collect your currency to get the miles.

American Airlines

Their program is called AAdvantage.To join AAdvantage you just have to give your details.

AAdvantage Partners:There are tons of different offers too from FedEx Kinkos to Tmobile Hotspots.

Dining:
AAdvantage Dining is the same as United, and Delta. You sign up by giving them your credit card to track.

Virgina Atlantic

Their program is called the Flying Club.Just fill out the Flying Club form.
Virgin Atlantic’s points for miles program has everything from hotels, rental cars.

Credit Card:
Virgin Atlantic offers an American Express card you can earn one mile for every £1 you spend.

I think that’s it from me. Hope all the tips helped! :)

]]> Font Embedding and Licensing tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.334 2009-05-13T18:16:04Z 2009-05-13T21:06:06Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time…

I decided to redesign my portfolio site. Matt and I discussed the benefits of using SIFR vs having .jpgs for my sub headers. As the sub headers are likely to change, using .jpgs wasn’t the best option. So we started looking into SIFR and Cufón. I would love to use the fonts that print designers and large corporations can afford but most of my clients these days are watching their budgets and so am I.Dare I say fiscially responsible designer? ;) Anyway.. I started researching the cost of what it would be for me to use the beautiful font I found. This isn’t a new problem, Hello 2007, cue Richard Rutter’s blog post on WebKit now supports CSS @font-face rules.

House Industries’ policy on font embeding

So I wanted to use the lovely font created by House Industries but I looked into their licensing and the font I found cost: $140 from House Industries, unfortunately to use it on my site its going to cost me an additional $1500 because their licensing doesn’t allow embeding.If I wanted to create each art with the text that’s not a problem, I prefer using SIFR because it is better for accessibility. If I won the lottery I wouldn’t blink at the high price tag but unfortunately it is not within my abilities for my personal site, well maybe if I was a fortune 500 company. If I wanted to use the @font-face in my CSS3 then it isn’t even an option unless I theoretically bought a license for every visitor on my site? Gulp…so at the moment we’re limited to the fonts we can use at the moment (some good and some bad… I want more fonts to use please!)

House Industries’ policy on font embedding,
“Why don’t you allow embedding in your license?
A: We make embedding decisions on a case by case basis. For example, we will allow you to embed the fonts to send a .pdf to a printer or to a client for approval. However, if you want to do an email distribution .pdf newsletter, you must pay an additional embedding fee.”

“Q: Do you allow embedding in Flash?
A: We make this call on a case by case basis. Generally, we allow embedding if the text is static, but we charge a flat embedding fee that is outlined on our pricing page.”

So I went to the pricing page…
“Web Embedding Fees
Web embedding for generating read-only dynamic text (examples: Flash or CSS): $1500 per font or $7500 per collection.”

Um.. excuse me? $1500.. that’s a Macbook.I totally understand charging for what you design. As a designer I agree with that point of view. But with most clients they are watching their budgets and would drop their jaw on the floor if I asked them to pay $7500 for a font.

Typography.com policy

So a favorite font due to President Obama’s campiagn is Gotham.It’s owned by typography.com
Their EULA (End User License Agreement) use states, “3.1. Embedding. “Embedded Documents” are those which contain a copy of the Typefaces, or data describing the shape or outline of any part of the Typefaces. Embedded Document formats include, but are not limited to: Acrobat (or other) files employing the Portable Document Format (“PDF”); Cascading Style Sheets (“CSS”) employing the “@font-face” tag; Macromedia Flash (or other) files employing TrueDoc; and documents employing Web Embedding Font Technology (“WEFT”). You may not create Embedded Documents, except as expressly provided in paragraphs 3.2 and 3.3:”
So if a client came to me and wanted to use any font from Tyography.com I’d recommend it based on them not limiting their usage. Freedom, interesting thought isn’t it?

Veer policy

Veer’s policy is dependent on which font you buy. You have to read the EULA there and decide. A ton of research after finding the font you want. Don’t you think? I looked up one font, a “G-Type” and got this EULA.
This is what is listed on their grant license,

“GRANT OF LICENSE
In return for the license fee paid Fontworks UK Ltd (‘Fontworks’) and/or its supplier grants you a non-exclusive license to use this font or font package (‘the Software’) on or for use by a maximum of 5 CPU’s (workstations), whether networked or not, connected to one output device (printer) at one location. Alternatively use may be on a single portable computer and associated printer. A copy of the Software should always be made for purely back-up purposes. If the font is required for use on machines in excess of the above numbers this can be achieved via simple multiplication, i.e. by purchasing further licenses from this site, or more economically (as volume discounts are included) by applying to Fontworks for an appropriate Multi-User, Site, Country or World Wide License. You can apply by e-mail, fax, post, ’phone etc.”

So you need to negotiate the usage of let’s say SIFR. Hmm.. that’s going to be a pain.Another email when that information should be updated on their site already.

A request to the people who are writing up the EULA’s

Can you please update your licenses to something designers and small businesses can afford? I’m not asking for free. I’m asking for reasonable and license agreements that don’t require us to ask if we can use it on our sites by contacting your company. Or I guess I’ll keep using Arial or Helvetica on my site until someone stops this outdated hamster wheel.
KTHXBAI

]]> Designing the Whuffie Factor book cover tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.332 2009-05-07T04:43:21Z 2009-05-16T21:47:22Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time…

Tara Hunt posted on Flickr her cover for her future book.Here is her original cover that she posted on flickr.

This is the Book Cover my Publisher sent me

She wasn’t pleased with the direction of the cover and she asked if I could work on the cover design for her. I was thrilled to get a chance to work with Tara.

 

The client’s vision:

Each project I work on I start off talking to the client to figure out what they have in mind. All clients are different and its a designer’s job to listen. I asked Tara what it meant to her and what she pictured in her mind.

She said, “The internet + social capital = success So, an icon like a mouse/computer/wifi + a heart = $$? You may have a better idea. But I was really inspired by your t-shirt years ago. I love it so much! I may have to buy a second one when I wear this one out. :)”

In that brief statement I figured out she wanted something iconic to explain her book cover. The t-shirt I designed was one I did in 2006 as a joke. Here’s a picture of the t-shirt, titled “Geeks love *”

Geeks Love tshirt example

The dimensions of the book cover were based on the yellow one that she posted on flickr and I used the copy that the publisher had in the mockup.

Defining the “vision”

Since Whuffie was a new term to me, I researched the meaning on Google.  Whuffie according to wikipedia is ephermal, reputation-based currency of Cory Doctrow’s science fiction novel, Down and out in the Magic Kingdom…. a person’s current Whuffie is instantly viewable to anyone, as everybody has a brian-implant giving them an interface with the net. I wanted to make sure I what the definition was and that I created a succint message with her book.

I used the definition to help me find a concept. The book was about community and the value of social reputation. Drawing a community was fairly easy. I drew the icons for male and female and kept them a blank slate and white to represent being pure and just starting out on their social reputation.The color red represents Tara having the most heart and reputation. Her “heart/value” on the web being the highest.

It took a bit of time explaining something that is intangible like social capital/reputation. The icon for the computer and RSS feeds representing content being sent out being added to heart equals the target that is what the social communities are.
I broke down the icons into:
Laptop= rss feed iconography, internet/web pages
Heart=soul of the community/intentions
Target=what companies and social communities are aiming for

"The Whuffie Factor" Book Cover for Tara Hunt

My font choice was based on a quick search.The font for this is Grotesk. It is the first digital typeface (or at least according to google).According to wikipedia, “it was the first sans serif typeface to be widely used and influenced many later neo-grotesque typefaces.”

Color Palette

The color scheme for this was based on “heart”  it made the most sense to use red to display the human aspect of it. Red is usually used to convey power, passion and humanity since it is the color of blood.All those connotations was part of the message I wanted for the book cover.

I wanted blue was for the sky’s the limit but turquiose was the perfect choice for the cover to give it a feminine sophistication to describe Tara’s point of view on social captial but also modern enough to not detract from a male audience.

Sent off to Client

I sent it off to Tara and she was thrilled with the cover and we waited. Random House, her publisher, eventually contacted me and asked me to do some revisions. They became my client and I did a few revisions on the cover for them. The comments were that it needed to be more streamlined for the business audience. Simple enough in one meeting I removed the iconography that Tara wanted (the client now was the publisher and not her). The mockups were now going through the publisher and not Tara. I created a few versions for the publisher to take a look at, unfortunately I am not at liberty to show. I played by the rules stated in the agreement which was that only they would show Tara what the cover was going to be.

Finally

A few minor adjustments and voila! The publisher told me that they were going to have a metallic print on the cover. Now who doesn’t love that? :D
I’ll add a picture of the book once I get a good one. ;)

It's now the official cover for Tara Hunt's Whuffie book!

Oh and just in case you want to buy one for your own collection. You can find it here on Amazon: The Whuffie Factor. ]]> SXSWi: Color Angels: Episode 1: It’s Not Black and White tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.331 2009-04-22T19:04:05Z 2009-04-23T04:41:06Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time…

There were three women that went to design school. Two in the US, the other in Belgium and they were each assigned different areas in design. But I brought them here, and now they are at SXSW to talk about colors. My name is Charlie. That’s how it starts or rather how I adjusted the original copy from the tv series. The three women we’re discussing here are Leslie Jensen-Inman, Veerle Pieters and myself.
All three of us are designers and we thought we’d have some fun with the presentation and that’s how our “mission” got started.

The presentation

We split off the topic so that we’d each get a chance to discuss our processes. Veerle did the cover of the slide.  My friend Jeremy Swanger completed the video intro for us and Matt Harris was the voice of Charlie. ;) Also a special thanks goes to Chris Moeller.

We discussed color theory, internationalization, accessibility, and of course gadgets.

Color Chart

Take a look at the different meanings of color in various countries. Think about who your audience is and what context the colors are in. The hard part of course is that our projects are now on the internet and it can be for an international audience.

Color Angels: Color Chart Countries

Green vs. Red

So what do we do?

ColorAngels: Green Vs Red

Think about localizing sites so they are appropriate for the country based on the language instead of location.Colors are culturally influenced. The two colors green and red are a good example.

In Chinese and Korean speaking countries green is a negative color and red is a positive color. Designing for a finance site for example like Yahoo the charts have to be the opposite of what users would expect in the USA for example. The key here is to know your audience.

Color Angels: Internationalization

What if your targeting an english speaking audience but the topic is about culture? Theknot.com’s site is currently in blues and whites but they have a page specifically about Chinese weddings.
They designed the page around red which is lucky for weddings. White in Chinese cultures is used to convey death, not the message a traditional Chinese bride would want to attendees. Those little details are ways to engage your audience to let them know you are paying attention.

Color Angels: TheKnot.com website

Color is a tool for design it must be used for good not evil and specifically within a context. Think about your audience when you are coloring withing the lines or even outside of it. ;)
Veerle did a blog post about our session and also posted the pdf here if you want the entire set.

]]> Creating a Web Slice for your flickr badge tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.329 2009-03-16T23:05:24Z 2009-06-16T01:08:25Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time

The team working on web slices at Microsoft asked me to do a sponsored review of the IE 8’s Web Slice. Searching on Google I found an article called,  “Create your own web slices” by Seth McLaughlin. Web Slices allow you to identify a portion of your web page that gets updated.  Users can then subscribe to your web slice (like an RSS) and be informed when it gets updated.  The extra bonus of web slices is that users can see the part that has updated in their favorites bar - without having to continually visit your site.  This only works with Internet Explorer 8 but a lot my visitors use IE and I figure this is something that I can use that helps them know when I update things.  Another benefit is it allows users to digest your site/blog/what have you in another way and if you’ve set up your CSS & HTML it is a piece of cake. ;)

I am going to apply web slices to my “on Flickr” portion in my sidebar. If you would like to try it out on your flickr badge and do not have one you can follow steps on Veerle’s blog, here is Veerle’s W3C Valid Flickr badge . I decided to try it on my flickr badge because it is the most updated portion of my site thanks to my data plan and flickr email uploading via my iPhone.

Starting to code it up

To create an hslice on your web page you need to create (or use an existing) div with a class of hslice.

My original code is below: (Note: I’m using [flickrurl] to mean http://www.flickr.com/badge_code_v2.gne?count=4&display=latest&size=s&layout=x&source=user&user=43082001%40N00 in the code snippets in this post.  You probably noticed this contains me my flickr feed user number so you need to switch it for yours before using it)

<div id="flickr">
<h2>on Flickr</h2>
<script type="text/javascript" src="[flickrurl]"</script>
</div>

Add an hslice to your div

Updated code: I added the hslice like this ” <div id=“flickr” class=“hslice”>”

<div id="flickr" class="hslice">
<h2>on Flickr</h2>
<script type="text/javascript" src="[flickrurl]"</script>
</div>

Adding a title

The webslice won’t work until you add a title. I already have an h2 in my flickr div which makes a good candidate for this. All I needed to do was add the “entry-title” class to the h2. This is what I added: <h2 class=“entry-title”>on Flickr </h2> The thing about the entry-title is that it is what will appear in the favorites bar of the users browser.  So you may want to re-word it if it doesn’t make sense out of context.

<div id="flickr" class="hslice">
<h2 class="entry-title">on Flickr</h2>
<script type="text/javascript" src="[flickrurl]"</script>
</div>

So here’s what it looks like in the IE8 browser in Vista.

  CindyLi.com Web Slice

So far so good but here’s the gotcha - the flickr badge script is dynamic and so IE8 doesn’t realize its updating - yeah I know but stick with it. Basically IE8 doesn’t render the bold text when new content is added to flickr so it doesn’t show the user that anything has changed. To get around this i got a bit of help from some dev guys (since this isn’t my area of expertise and I like keeping hair on my head :P ).

First thing to note is why this isn’t working ... yup it’s security

Seth’s post says, “Note:  For security reasons, the Web Slice preview does not allow script or Microsoft ActiveX controls. Consequently, HTML forms and buttons are not supported. Instead, you can use links that contain URL parameters to perform related actions. Navigations occur within the currently selected tab. To get around this limitation, consider using an alternative display source, ....” You can read more about on his article.

So, what does this mean? Well, it means I needed to make a few changes. First, because we need to test the code for the web slice, we need to make IE8 check for updates more often. Normally, IE8 will check every 24 hrs but we can change this using a "TTL" (which means Time-To-Live). The lowest number you can put in here is 15 (for 15 minutes), anything less will still be forced to 15. This line is just <span class=“ttl” style=“display:none”>15<span>.

The code now looks like this:

<div id="flickr" class="hslice">
	<h2 class="entry-title">on Flickr</h2>
	<span class="ttl" style="display:none">15</span>
	<script type="text/javascript" src="[flickrurl]"</script>
</div>

  Flickr Webslice 3

This screenshot was in WindowsXP on bootcamp.

Now we tell the web slice where to get it’s updates from. To do this I used rss2html.com and this line of code. It looks like a lot bit really it’s a copy and paste (just remember to change the feed for your flickr ID. NOTE:You will need to upload a photo to your flickr account to test it and depending on flickr it can take a while to refresh so go get your Nintendo DS lite and play a game while your waiting.

<a rel="feedurl" href=
  "http://scripts.rss2html.com/public/rss2html.php?XMLFILE=[flickrurl]&TEMPLATE=[templateurl]"
  style="display:none;" />
<span class="ttl" style="display:none">15</span>
     
  • The "feed" url tells the web slice where to check for the change in content (if you aren’t using a script this could be an RSS feed).
    •  
  • " XMLFILE=" bit is where your flickr RSS address goes. This is the same for everyone just replace it with your flickr id. (It’s the portion after "id=").
    •  
  • "TEMPLATE=" specifies where your custom template is and will be displayed when someone clicks on the web slice.
    •  
  • So for me the full URL is http://scripts.rss2html.com/public/rss2html.php?XMLFILE=[flickrurl]&TEMPLATE=http://cindyli.com/CindyFlickrTemplate.html#flickr

The TEMPLATE described is an html page with these lines of code. You can change the "entry-title" to whatever name you want, unless you like my name on your page. ;)

<html>
  <head>
  <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8">
  </head>
  <body>
  <div class="hslice" id="flickr">
  <div class="entry-title">Cindy on flickr</div>
  <div class="entry-content">
  ~~~BeginItemsRecord~~~
  ~~~ItemPubShortDate~~~
  ~~~ItemPubShortTime~~~
  ~~~EndItemsRecord~~~
  </div>
  <a style="display: none" href="http://cindyli.com/flickrslice.html" 
rel="entry-content" />
  </div>
  </body>
</html>

Above you see I created a file called "flickrslice.html" that page is what displays your web slice. Feel free to style it appropriately with a background color, link color, or however you would like. I found it easier that the CSS is all in one page. NOTE:Remember also to change out your flickr user id.

<html>
<head>
  <meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
  <title>Cindy Li &#8211; on Flickr</title>
  <style type="text/css" media="screen">
  body {
  background: rgb(129,164,185); 
  }
  a img {
  border: none;
  }
  #wrapper div {
  display: inline;
  }
  img { 
  background: rgb(209,61,148);
  padding: 4px;
  margin: 2px;
  }
  #wrapper {
  width: 445px;
  }
  </style>
  </head>
  <body>
  <div id="wrapper">
  <script type="text/javascript" src="[flickrurl]"</script>  </div>
  </body>
</html>

  Flickr Webslice 1

Final tips

Remember to take out my flickr id and replace it with yours. (I know I’ve said it a few times now but I have a feeling someone’s going to forget.)

Replace the span block with the “TTL” and it will start updating every 24 hours (we only changed it so you didn’t have to wait to test your code). You can of course put in a number to force it to refresh more often (that’s the fun bit… you can if you want because its your site :D) The lower the TTL the more frequent people will hit up your site and it might be a bad thing depending on the amount of traffic you have.

Download my files

Download the web slice files

What do I think of web slices?

If you do a web slice without a script it would be easier to create than what I just did. The good news is that if you choose to do something like this flickr badge that includes a script it should be a lot easier if you follow what I’ve done here well.. if you have your divs in order. ;)

]]> Twitter: Decoder ring and twitterquette tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.330 2009-03-11T13:55:00Z 2009-03-11T14:43:07Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time…

My friend Silvia asked what OH meant and this started us on the topic of Twitter-etiquette or should it be Twitterquette?  Silvia wants to call it tweetiquette. Anyway, below is a list of helpful tips and a dictionary for some terms that are being used on the Twittersphere and may have been just too embarrassed to ask. I’m still on the fence. :P
Silvia this post is for you and various friends that are asking me what things mean. She’s up and running and wonders NOW what? ;)

Twitterquette

  • If you Twitter a lot you might loose followers so don’t be offended if you loose followers because you do that. Solution: You could create another account one that is public and one that is private. That way you don’t have to share every thought to the twitterverse.Some people I know have many accounts.
  • The flip side:when you Twitter you may just gain users too.It just depends on what you want to do with Twitter.
  • If you know someone tweets a lot then you may not want them to be sent to your phone. Turn off the notifications on the website so you don’t end up paying for more content then you bargained for. If you are having a conversation between another person that requires many tweets (just DM=Direct message them so you aren’t blasting it to everyone that follows you unless you want to be annoying). :P
  • When you OH someone don’t attach their name (wait what does OH mean? Check the dictionary of terms below)
  • Avatars: try and keep the same one so people following you can find you easily. If you want to be found. ;)
  • Use emoticons to help notate tone (if you care to), some people take your Twitters out of context which will happen from time to time.
  • If you have a long url and want to save characters then use a url compressor like tinyurl or powertwitter (firefox add-on)


Dictionary of terms

Some are just geeky terms some are specific to twitter.

  • OH: Definition: Overheard When do you use it: When there’s a quote you want to say and you don’t want to attribute it to the person or you don’t know who to attribute it to. When the person doesn’t want the entire world to know they said that statement.
  • RT: Definition:Re-Tweet When to use it: When someone tweets a link or statement you find interesting/amusing or not and you republish it on your twitter feed
  • Twitterverse or Twittersphere: What does it mean: The twitter universe
  • Tweet: Definition:A twitter statement
  • # Definition:This is used as a tag for trends, events, statement, phrase, or whatever someone wants to have it not just as a word. When to use it:: #followfriday, #watchman (movie), #haiku, #nerdjoke, #sxswi09 (event)
  • DM Definition:Direct message me on twitter When you see it: “Hey DM me and let me know if you are interested in the tickets.” If you type D infront of a user’s name into the text field then it will get sent directly to them Example: D craigcook Hi DM to people in Europe: Note: they don’t get them to their phones. Twitter couldn’t keep up the fees so if you send one to Europe the recipient will only get it via email or their twitter software.
  • @ username it directs the twitter message you have for the username. They have it in their reply tab and will see it when they search if someone messages them Example: @marianne_m Let’s go find some pirates! Ok so what’s the difference between D username and @username? @cindyli how are you (this is like yelling it out in the street for everyone to hear and your recipient ) d cindyli how are you (this is the equivalent to passing a note to someone that no one else sees)
  • Private twitter accounts Why: Not everyone wants their tweets to be out in the internet searchable. They want to control who sees their published content
  • Public Everyone can see you tweets. Everyone even you mother if she chooses and your boss.
  • Block You can block someone from following you if you are private or public. Although they can just go to your profile page and see it if you are public.


Mobile Help codes while you are on the go

Twitter’s help tips.
Totally snagged these from the twitter help site.

  • Mobile texting feature Warning: lately texting your tweets disappears into the ether, so its better to use one of the fancy applications that you can download onto your iPhone to avoid texting or use the m.twitter.com site instead.
  • WHOIS username What does this do? gets the profile on your phone from any public user on twitter Example: Whois themattharris
  • GET username What it does: Grabs the lastest twitter update by the person Example: Get adactio
  • NUDGE What does this do? reminds someone to update I have never used this and don’t see the point.Most people tweet enough. ;) Example: nudge gleyseele
  • FAV What does this do? marks a person’s last tweet as a favorite. Why? When you think they say something funny, or send a link that you might find interesting. Example: fav zeldman
  • Stats What does this do?  sends you the number of followers, how many people your following and what words your tracking Why? Twitter vanity check for you and to see how many people you are following


Geek speak


Terms that have been around for a while but are being used on twitter.

  • 1337 l337 is leet or elite speak. When do you see it: It’s a positive term, it came from gaming. How to use it? Checking out out Apple’s new 1337 ipod shuffle
  • FTW Definition: For the win Example: My car started FTW!
  • FAIL Definition:When something fails, or used as EPIC FAIL when something really screws up Example: Photoshop crashed on me and I didn’t save the file I was working on. EPIC FAIL!
  • n00b n00b Definition: newbie, someone new to whatever. Example: Silvia is such a n00b to twitter. ;)

I’m sure I’ve left some out but this should get you started! Hope this helps those of you in cube land (you know who you are. ;)).

]]> SXSW interactive survival tips tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.327 2009-02-24T23:06:00Z 2009-02-24T23:26:52Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time…

geeks descended upon Austin in March with iPhones, SLRs, and laptops for a week long event that almost all of us look forward to each year.
But ... what if you are new to SXSWi and need some guidance? What if you are just too busy to think about it?

Pre SXSWi Tips

  • Schedule SXSWi sessions:Start taking a look at the schedule and plan accordingly.  Give yourself some backup sessions just in case you can’t get into the one you want.  If the session is really popular you might not be able to get in so for the ones you really don’t want t0 miss, get there early so you get a seat. The browser wars panel last year, for example, actually packed to the point where the doors were closed before the talk started.
  • Parties: Where to find them? A good place to start is upcoming.
  • Business cards: bring them so you have something to give someone when they hand you theirs (kinkos, moo cards, or whatever you fancy - because there are so many people we forget once sxsw is over and we can’t help it)
  • Texting plan:If you have a texting plan that isn’t unlimited or something ridiculously expensive change it for the month of March to avoid being shocked in April.
  • Twitter: if you aren’t on it then the rest of the geeks will stare at you as if you had three heads - go sign up and start using #sxswi09 in your tweets
  • Battery life for iPhone: If you have an iPhone get a Kensington Battery  or the other version of the Kensington battery  that they have (it charges one extra battery life. It helps when your twittering too much - after-all you can’t keep standing by the outlet can you?
  • Surge protector: what makes you popular at a geek event? and what is more coveted than anything else? Gadget juice - namely that stuff that makes our laptops and gadgets keep running. I have a Belkin Mini Surge protector which I bring - I love it because it also has 2 USB sockets on the side letting me charge the iPhone and my backup battery.
  • Anti-bacterial lotion: For those of you wondering where you got that cold from ... carry some of this.
  • Headache: it will happen between the running around, talking, staying up late, and for some - the drinking. You will want advil or some sort of headache relief to get you by.
  • Clothing:you’re an adult figure it out according to the weather. :P

During SXSWi Tips

  • Photos: If your at SXSWi you are going to be in someone’s photograph at some point, and it will live on Flickr. There is a statement that comes to mind.. “what happens in Austin goes on Flickr.”
  • Hyrdate:Drink lots of water, tea or something non-alcoholic to help your throat because after a couple days of talking to your favorite web celebrity you will want take care of that throat. It is a rookie mistake but seriously hyrdate!
  • Remembering people’s names: Take iphone pics or normal camera photos of them with their name tag (less of the who was that post sxsw).
  • Should you bring your laptop or not? Depends if you want to carry it around all day, if you want to blog or not at the event
  • Food: since there is a huge influx of people eating will take longer so plan accordingly, if there is a session you want to attend then it might be time to get it to go (Hilton Starbucks across the street or inside the convention center for a QUICK bite)

Geektiquette, and tips

  • Be nice to everyone, even if they aren’t on Techcrunch,Facebook or whatever will be hot and “current”. Everyone deserves courtesy.(Unless they are stalking you then all bets are off :P
  • Uploading photos: Don’t be the jerk uploading the hi-resolution photos/videos on conference wi-fi. It is a Geek FOUL!
  • When asking questions, ask questions. It is not a forum for you to bang on about your latest start up for five minutes before getting to the actual question.-Mark Norman Francis
  • Don’t sit with your friends. Sit next to people you don’t know at panels and introduce yourself before they begin. It may feel weird, but you’ll meet amazing people. Sleep is overrated.-Daniel Morrison
  • Invite people to lunch, dinner, coffee or something to get to know them better we’re all there to network and meet people who are excited about our industry.
  • Try to relax and not feel the pressure to do everything. My first year I was totally exhausted because I tried to hit every panel time slot, and every party possible. Last year I took it really easy and did less. Skip a panel and have a long lunch with some people, and maybe stay away from that big party so you can grab some pints at a smaller bar with some new friends. Use tools like twitter and brightkite to find out where people are gathering at the more unofficial spots.-Brian Warren
  • Don’t plan to meet people for dinner/lunch more than a day in advance. You don’t know who they or you will meet that day - and leave you’re laptop behind - you don’t need it during the event, nor do you want it to be your uninvited dinner guest.-Matt Harris
  • Wash your hands six times a day. SouthByScurvy is a threat to us all.-Chip D

Hopefully this will get you started! Have fun and see you in Austin!

 

 

]]> Geeks Love * Tshirts on sale tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.326 2009-02-23T23:48:01Z 2009-04-10T16:16:03Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time…

I cleaned out a closet and found t-shirts that I forgot I had still. So here they are on sale again. They are American Apparel t-shirts in brown.

In case you needed some pics of the t-shirts out in the wild here is an old post. :)

Pictures of other happy shirt owners! :)

So where to order?

Geeks Love * Tshirt

15.00




 

]]> Web Conference suggestions for 2009 tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.325 2009-02-13T16:10:00Z 2009-02-14T04:21:08Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time…

the world started worrying about budgets again and the value of a dollar, pound or yen. ;)
I’ve had a few friends ask me what conferences would get the most bang for their buck if they could convince their companies to send them or if it was worth it to send themselves. I think it is always a great idea to further your education and reach will always reap rewards. So which conference should you go to?
My answer will vary based on what your goal is. Here are the ones that I’ve attended that I would suggest and a couple that are either new or a friend attended. 

SXSW interactive

Website: SXSW interactive
Date: March 13-17, 2009
Location: Austin, TX, USA
Price: $375+ ( Varies depending on when you sign up); Registration
Goal:
Networking over a week period and a broad topic of sessions
This conference is one of my favorites because it got me started thinking outside of the large corporation I was working for at the time in 2005. This year will be my 4th year attending and my 3rd year speaking. It has attracted people from all over the globe that are making things on the web. It has been called the geek spring break.The sessions are mostly submitted by the attendees or hopeful contenders each year and voted on by a panel of advisors and the community.There are plenty of sessions for whatever you are looking for and hanging out with your favorite authors and bloggers is a bonus too. You can get lost very easily in the crowd.There are lots of events in the evenings where you can hang out at bars with other conference attendees usually sponsored by a company or companies for free.

Web App Summit

Website: Web App Summit
Date: April 19-22, 2009
Location:Newport Beach, California, USA
Price: $2,190 for 4 days/ $675 single day (price goes up as the date gets closer to the event); Registration
Goal:
Focused sessions, more research on usability. Practical application for visual designers & user interface designers.
Out of all the conferences I attended last year I got the most out of this one. The design patterns and the examples used were closest to what I needed to know for my professional development. What makes this one different? This conference offers a lot more content than the other conferences because the speakers for the workshops are required to turn in a workbook for their workshop. The content was applicable to in-house designers as well as freelancers. The topics range from accessibility, design, flash, and best practices on web design. The conference doesn’t have sponsor pitches in case you were wondering why it was priced higher than other ones. While at this conference I twittered statements that the speakers made and the twitterverse responded with curiosity.
The best value is the full day workshops.

dConstruct

Website: dConstruct
Date:Sept 4, 2009
Location:Brighton, England, UK
Price: TBD
Goal: Usability/Web/ Technology. If you are in England or Europe it is a lot closer to you to attend.
It is put on by Clearleft
Their event has workshops and speakers for people designing and building web pages and social applications.
The speakers last year included people such as Tantek Çelik (http://tantek.com/), Daniel Burka at (http://digg.com), and Matt Biddulph (http://dopplr.com)

Web Directions North

Website: Web Directions North
Location:2009 was in Denver, CO for the first time this past year (previously it was held in Vancouver, Canada)
Price: $795
Goal: Two tracks (Design and Developers) allows you to mix and match depending on what topic you find more interesting
I know I’m a bit biased on this because I’ve had the pleasure of being involved each year stage managing.
John Allsopp, Maxine Sherrin all have done a fantastic job organizing speakers at each of their conferences.
The 2009 conference brought in experts that are a part of the W3C, Google, Opera, Mozilla, Yahoo and IE.
The conference ends with a ski trip if your budget allows you to stay for the Friday and Saturday that Microsoft IE sponsored.
This past year they brought in the educational task force to improve web education for everyone. This conference gave an educational discount for teachers & professors.

I haven’t had the pleasure of attending the Web Directions South or East yet but I can dream. :)

Web Directions South

Website: Web Directions South
( I hear it is turning out to be Australia’s version of SXSW)
Date: October 6-9, 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia

Web Directions East

Website: Web Directions East
Location: Japan
Goal: Closest for Asia attendees that can’t make it to the web conferences in the USA/Europe or Australia. 2008 was the first time it was held.

Barcamps

Website: Barcamp
Date: varies, Worldwide
Fee: Free unless its for food or transportation but you should be able to find a local one.
Depending on the hosts, there is sponsorship for the location and food.
Goal: To find a wide variety of grass roots topics. Topics will vary at each Barcamp from web to acting. It is a mixed bag of jelly beans depending on the barcamp.

Refresh

Website: Refresh Cities
Date: varies, USA
Fee: Free (but always need sponsors to host or pay for food)
Depending on what city is hosting it these happen once a month.
Goal: All grass roots and its a great way to network in your city and learn from the experts in your area.

Some more events I haven’t been to but I have heard good things:

An Event Apart

Website: An Event Apart
Dates:
June 22-23, 2009 Boston
Oct 12-13, 200 Chicago
Dec 7-8 San Francisco
This conference is started by the guys known for web standards (Jeffrey Zeldman and Eric Meyer).
Goal::  The conferences are more intimate and focused for people who make websites.

Training by Collective Idea

Website: Training by Collective Idea
Dates:
Advanced Rails: March 23-26, 2009; Alexandria, VA
ExpressionEngine: May 19-22, 2009; Holland, MI
Goal: Training to improve your code by developers that do it as their day job.


New Event this year:

In Control 2009

Website: In Control 2009
Date: June 11-12th, 2009; Cincinnati, Ohio
Fee: $695 early bird price.
Discount: INCSCHM, you get an extra $50 off the early bird price. :)
If you are a print designer looking to break into the web scene and are in the Cincinnati, Ohio area.
Speakers include: Molly E. Holzschlag, Aaron Gustafson, Christopher Schmitt and Khoi Vinh.


Hoping this helps!

]]> 7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Me tag:cindyli.com,2009:/1.324 2009-01-29T08:37:00Z 2009-01-29T08:55:42Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time

an internet meme started making its loops around and eventually I got named once by Tara Brown and once by Cheryl Lead-Gledhill.  You share 7 things people probably don’t know about you and then you tag 7 more people to do the same and around it goes again.  So here we go…

My 7 things You Probably Didn’t Know About Me

  1. I have never played Guitar Hero and I don’t want to. I don’t like the music. Now if someone had a Saxophone version maybe I would. :P
  2. I’ve never seen a shooting star. I’ve tried a few times and failed.
  3. I like owning power tools and knowing how to change a tire, or a car battery. I get really frustrated when I hear of women playing that.. “oh I’m a girl” card. If you own a car you should be able to change a tire without AAA.
  4. Mr Roger’s Neighborhood was my favorite show when I moved to the USA. I watched him til I was about 12 or 14. I related to him, he took off his shoes when he came in the house like we did in ours. He was a good example for kids and made me feel safe.
  5. The kids on the playground bullied me because I was Asian and asked if I was related to Bruce Lee (since my last name was Li, they didn’t realize it was spelled differently).  My answer was, “Yes.” Yeah I lied but it Karate Kid was also in fashion at the time so all I had to do to get them to leave me alone was the crane pose.
  6. My pet turtle..I let my cousin borrow it for a science project on mazes. When I got him back I put him in the front yard and went in to watch tv. When I came back outside he was gone. One month later my dad came in looking sad. He said he found my turtle… after the lawn mower found him first.
  7. I used to buy clothes from Target size 14 kids section until I was 30. I liked the pants because I didn’t have to hem them.


My 7 people that I am tagging. :P

  1. Matt Harris
  2. Craig Cook
  3. Veerle Pieters
  4. Min Jung Kim
  5. David Cafaro
  6. Ruth Kalinka
  7. Kevin Lawver
]]> Milk, the movie tag:cindyli.com,2008:/1.323 2008-12-15T04:28:00Z 2008-12-15T07:15:35Z Cindy http://www.cindyli.com Once upon a time

my friends convinced me into watching Milk, on a rainy day. Their powers of persuasion worked and I’m thankful it did. It was the last day the movie was playing in the Castro theater. The movie was about Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay official elected in California. Sean Penn played Harvey and I hope he gets an Oscar for it. It made me cry in the theater and saddens me that even still the rights for everyone are not the same.

Castro showing MILK

 

Harvey Milk

He did a lot to progress gay rights but there is still so much left to do. He was just an “everyday guy.” He just believed that he could make a difference in his community for the better. I have friends that feel like second class citizens because they are not given the same rights as everyone (re: prop 8). I was raised christian. I believe in God but I also believe that everyone deserves to love and be loved. Why can’t it be as simple as that? I do not want to ruin the movie for those of you who don’t know the story but I am glad he existed. He inspired me because he started his cause at age 40 and achieved something to be proud of. It is never too late to start something positive in the world, to make the world a better place.

The movie will change how you feel about where we are in our country, we all want change because we all hope for something better. Remember that and keep it close to your heart. The person next to you wants good things in the world to happen. Yes I hear the cynics scoffing but generally people want the world to be better.

I leave you with this hopefully familiar poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller.

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I was not a Jew.

When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

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