Do you ever wonder where you will be in the future as a freelance designer? Thanks to Matthew Jordan with You Suck at Web Design, we have all the answers.

"No idea. Man these freelancers were hard to kill back in the day. They used to do agency quality work for like a quarter of the cost. Do – doll – dockers? Dollars? Something like that – it was currency." Jacobs explained.

Labels: design, Freelance, Web Design, Websites, You Suck at Web Design

After looking over a post on Design Meltdown about the Top 20 Most Popular Blog Colors I had to give a big thanks to rss feeds. As I looked over the designs of the blogs I was just turned off by the bad designs most of them had. The interesting thing is, is that I read a lot of the ones listed but I use google reader to do so. I vary rarely visit the actual website and if I had to I would probably stop reading them. Unfortunately, most of the blogs are just covered in advertisements and clutter.

Among the worst designs and color selections is Techcrunch. Over 1/3 of the site is pure advertisements, which is good for Michael Arrington but it is a huge distraction to the blog posts. Again, thank goodness for feed readers.

Among the better designed blogs are Seth Godin's Blog which is clean and simple and you're not distracted by the clutter of advertising.

Of course, the fact that these site have the most links to there site by other blogs tells me that the world isn't concerned with how the site looks or they are like me, using a feed reader and never visiting the website.

Labels: Bad Design, blogs, Design Meltdown, Websites

When I heard that the Ski Utah logo was redone I was a little worried about what it would look like but I am very impressed by it. I think it represents Utah and the ski industry very well. Here are some of the goals of the logo stated by Nathan Rafferty:

"We were looking for something fresh. We just felt we turned the corner with the 4 million record, and we decided to try for a new logo. We wanted something clean, cool and simple. The old logo simply didn't portray the message we wanted. ... It was a particularly tough job because we wanted a mountain in the logo. One of the designers rode TRAX into work one day and counted 37 different logos, all with mountains."

I think they hit the nail right on the head. The logo is clean, cool, and simple. They even were able to portray the mountains without making it look cluttered. The logo works very well with the icon above or even inline with the type like they have it on the website. The icon alone works just as good. It's nice to see that some people realize the effect of a well designed logo.

The website on the other hand could use some work. There is a lot of information that is not structured or organized very well. That can be another discussion altogether.

Labels: logos, Ski Utah, Websites

As I was doing a little research on the different AIGA chapter websites, I realized how poorly designed they all are. The most impressive ones were template driven so multiple chapters had the same site. Beyond the template sites, the next best one was Colorado's, and I wasn't at all impressed with that. My chapter is the Salt Lake City and I don't love the design, but at least it is clean and organized well. What happened to setting the standard in design. The UI is horrible on most of them. I think we need to raise the bar a little for these websites.
You can check out a few of them here.

Labels: AIGA, Websites

Thank you to Healing Light Reiki Training Center for the kind words.

Tony's business, 325studio, provides visual communications in the form of logo, graphic & web design and small business solutions. We have found he has an excellent eye for color and clarity and great marketing with integrity.

I have had the opportunity to work with Lisa and Bridget on designing the Healing Light Reiki Center website and I'm glad they are pleased with the results.
Lisa came to me wanting a nice simple website that she could send here clients to for information on getting treatments and taking classes. She is continuing to expand her website and in the future she will be offering audio CD's on Chakra treatments for people to purchase. I will also have the opportunity to work with her on the design of the packaging. For anyone interested in learning more, visit Healing Light Reiki Center for more information.

Here is a little information on Lisa.

Lisa Ross-Walker is an international Reiki Master Instructor who has been avidly studying and teaching Reiki for over eight years. She actually started her career as a Massage Therapist over 20 years ago when she founded Well-Being Massage and Wellness Center still located in Orem, UT, and has nearly two decades of experience in teaching massage therapy, meditation classes, wellness workshops, and providing effective healing retreats.

Labels: Clients, Reiki, Websites