Apple announced the iPad. The wi-fi model won’t ship til late March according to the apple website and the 3G in April pending approval from the FCC. I love my laptop so am I the audience for this? Possibly. I need something with a lot more power like my Macbook Pro, which I inevitably need a new one every two years. I can see myself using it sitting on the couch surfing or even to pull up recipes in the kitchen. It lasts 10hrs on battery life and its in color so “IF” I would choose to read books on the iPad ($499.00 base model) vs the Kindle (price $489 for the 9.7 screen). I would choose the iPad. I love my tech toys but I can think of two people in my life that would actually use it more than I.

User #1:Accessible for Vision Impaired

My mother for one, who would love my iPhone (but loves her Verizon old school non-smart phone with the big buttons) she’s got macular degeneration so the accessibility of an iPhone is an issue. She can’t see the little buttons that are the applications on the iPhone.
I think the iPad would be a great alternative for her to play the iPhone apps I’ve been telling her were wonderful without her magnifying glass.

User #2: Snow Bird

The other person I would suggest this device to is my friend Julie’s mother. Which I did shortly after engadget finished their live coverage on the iPad via my iPhone. ;)
Her mother is a snow bird. She lives in Michigan and during the winter she travels to FL. She doesn’t want to lug around a ton of gear and she wants wifi in the condo she rents. The iPad is 1.5lbs and its a 9.7 inch IPS display. That’s pretty techy. Plus the contract that AT&T is proposing she can cancel the 3G contract when she’s not down in FL. Love that!

The contract plan that the iPad with AT&T says it will be:

• $14.99 for up to 250 MB
• $29.99 for unlimited data
• Free use of AT&T wifi spots
• No contract - Cancel anytime

User #3: traveler

The other person that I could see using this would be the friends that travel on a plane. Everyone complains about the lack of leg room on planes and if you just wanted something to store your photos while your away on vacation (it’s light and has a way to store your photos via usb card reader) and could use to surf the web/email its a great gadget to have.

Maybe I’ll come up with more reasons to buy it but for now…
I’ll wait to fall in love with it after I get my grubby little hands on it so that I too can be like Captain Picard.

I logged into my Facebook account this evening. I do my usual update status but on the right rail of the page is this message under the heading “Suggestions: Philip Kim, You haven’t talked on Facebook lately.” Now like most people I get a bit busy in my day to day life and yes I forget to speak to friends but this one is one that breaks my heart. My friend passed away earlier this year from cancer, his birthday is coming up in about a week and I still haven’t been able to remove him from my IM list because it makes me feel like he’s there still. Silly to most probably but I’m a bit of a soft center (ok maybe more than a soft center). So why does Facebook’s suggestions feature have to be such a nag?

Facebook, please remove this feature or give me an easy way to take this out completely. It’s one thing for you to surface me ads so you can make money. It is another to torture me about relationships I haven’t actively participated in. Stop making me sad and quit guilting me into talking to friends. I hate your suggestions feature. Relationships are complicated and no one likes forced conversation even if the idea was to get people to talk to each other because we are too busy. Stop it. Please dear God take that feature down.

What to do if your friend or family is deceased in Facebook

I got this tip from my friend, Michael via twitter
You can submit their FB page to be memorialized by completing the Facebook form.

Facebook please stop reminding us. Sometimes we want a little memory loss to dull the pain of loosing someone. Let us grieve in our own way.

I got an informed that Ma.gnolia.com got a cease and desist order from Magnolia CMS. These are two separate companies, yes both in the tech world but different goals and products.

Big time lawyers are sending letters. Disappointing yes. Both are community based products. Ma.gnolia has the twitter handle @magnolia. Magnolia CMS has @magnolia_cms. Is it over this? Who knows? Is it because they’ve expanded their product to the USA?

Magnolia CMS is an open source product. We all need one another and I find it disappointing that they are sending big time lawyers to shut down Larry Halff’s project. Has it come down to this? :( 

In my attempt to help I’ve written a comment to the Magnolia CMS website.

Want to help? Write them

If you want to help here’s contact Magnolia CMS website and fill out the form.

Here’s my letter to Magnolia’s CMS website:
I think it is disappointing that a company that is “open source” and depends on a community for support sending a cease and desist order to ma.gnolia.com a social bookmarking website that is for the community.
There are other start ups that co-exist without harming one another’s business.
Please rethink your stand on this.
Thank you.

Let’s get behind the social bookmarking website we’ve come to love. :)

I received a phone call that no one ever wants to get. It’s taken me a while to write this post because it was about someone dear to me. I’ve started a few times to write this but could never finish. My friend Philip Kim passed away on March 12, 2009; he was 40. I found out while I was at SXSWi, this past march.

Technology has changed the way we send and share information. My friend, Chris first tried to call but since it was during a conference session my iPhone was on vibrate. I texted him and he texted “call me.” I knew something was wrong. There was just something that didn’t felt right. Chris knew I was at SXSWi and he knew I would be busy. Chris had called a friend (because he found out about Philip’s passing while on the way to a hiking trip) to check on the SXSWi speaker schedule online to make sure I wasn’t speaking that day. This was a good thing because as soon as Chris told me I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. I was in the midst of helping Jared Spool clean up after his presentation and had to run into the hallway to find a wall to hold me up. I wanted to hide and run far away from the crowds at SXSWi. I had 24 hours to get myself composed enough to deal with people, in case anyone wondered why I wasn’t really around or a bit distant; I was mourning. I wanted to let people know but I didn’t want to twitter about Philip’s passing. Chris was worried I’d find out via Facebook or Twitter. Learning about something so personal to me virally is not a positive product of social networking.

How we met

I met him in real life, I met Philip at AOL. I was at a point in my life where I really needed a friend and Philip’s infectious laughter was something that no one could resist. I do thank god for sending me good friends when I was at my weakest. Philip became a guardian angel of mine.  Philip was one of the amazing people that you were lucky to know because he just got you, or me in this case. If you’ve ever had a friend that just seemed to know you without explanations this was one of those people. He had a sister, Annah, that he loved very much. He also got you to laugh at yourself. I burned my forehead once with a curling iron and tried to hide it. Sadly he knew exactly what it was from. His sister apparently had done this too. If you could hear his laughter you would laugh too. He giggled like a little boy that knew he had done something he shouldn’t have. He always had a hint of mischief, the best friends usually do. :)

He was protective of the people he cared about too.He walked me to my car after swing dancing at the Clarendon ballroom because it wasn’t well lit and it was late at night. He took me to “grown up” restaurants because being the metro-sexual man he was he liked eating well. He was meticulous about his house and his clothes. Philip understood having Christian backgrounds and the energy it took in our attempts at living the life our Asian parents hoped for us. He usually smelled of Polo, the green bottle. He challenged me think about the future outside of AOL. You need friends that push you further than you realize you can. Encouragement, that is a gift of friendship.

Philip was an artist; he was a professor. He told me once he wanted to be a farmer. He also told me he wanted to design and build furniture. He researched and found a class that he could take during the summer. We talked about what we wanted when we “grew up.” Philip didn’t just dream he also did make things happen for himself. He was just at that point of getting everything he dreamed of. He had just started to run marathons, that’s how he discovered something was wrong. He was in top form and he lost weight but somehow something wasn’t quite right.

He was diagnosed with from a form of Leukemia called Acute Myeloid Leukemia. He fought it for almost 3 years. He had to move from San Francisco back to the Washington DC area because his family was in Northern Virginia and his sister got him into the National Institute of Health hospital. I visited him a few times while he was there. Things have changed post 9-11 your car gets searched when you enter the gate. Your ID is checked. After he told me what he was diagnosed with I joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma foundation group in DC. I volunteered what time I had and tried to do my part. I offered to donate my marrow but his sister was a match so that wasn’t necessary. If you feel like donating here’s the donation page for the Leukemia & Lymphoma society.

The digital age

Technology has changed so much of how we interact. It made me think of how one would go about notifying everyone in their circle of friends in the event of someone passing away.

Philip’s sister created a Facebook group. She knew him well enough to get into his laptop to access his address books to let his friends know what had happened. The concern is always missing someone. Annah is a strong woman but sharing the news of Philip’s passing over and over is too much for anyone person to shoulder alone. Thankfully there are avenues such as email, and Facebook to allow us to share the news good or bad. It allowed Philip’s friends to post pictures, and messages about him and for him. Another friend, Holly Liu that Philip introduced to me even organized a couple of meet-ups for those that couldn’t attend Philip’s memorial all in Facebook.

There has to be an easier way. My friend Jared Spool twittered about Philip’s passing for me while at SXSWi and unfortunately my friend P. found out this way. She said it was strange to find that out via twitter. Jared suggested that I contact various people to make them notify other people. I have to say Facebook was the easiest way because each phone call I made to let another friend know became increasingly painful.

Figuring passwords of laptops and information to access other information is also just as painful when you are in the midst of grieving. I tried to help Annah go through some of the computers thankfully she knew her brother rather well so she could guess some of them. I have 1Password and it creates very secure passwords but I’m the “techy” one in my family. I wonder if they would be able to access my information if they needed to.

I also wonder what happens to his website (renewing his domain) and his information on places like LinkedIn, and Facebook? I know that previously people created MySpace pages and if someone passed away they turned it into a memorial page. Death in the digital age is even more complicated. It is more complicated in that we get bills virtually and there isn’t a paper trail for loved ones to find. Mourning is difficult enough without having to complete a scavenger hunt.

Technology allows us to be connected and at the same time its also nice to have face time with the people you care about. I challenge you to call, email or message someone to let them know you care. To make the most of your life.  It’s something I am trying to do myself. Make the days count and live the life you want even if it scares you so much you pee in your pants ;).

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!

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.

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:

His view:

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

Speed test

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. :)

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.

• Angry Cute
• Pixel Portraits
• Face Your Manga

(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.

• Matt Adam
• Angela Covert
• Claire Dunham
• Alyssa Fryar
• Megan Humble
• Kelsie Lendermon
• Tara Jacek
• Tracey Moore
• MIchelle O
• Natalie Roig
• Krista Stickles
• Stephanie Tate
• Casey Yoshida

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.

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:

Portfolio page:

Portfolio Detail page:

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. :)

The new live site : DesignRabbit.

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).

• U.S. website
• U.K. website

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.

• United Hotels: U.S. website
• United Hotels: U.K. 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! :)

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